online medical dictionary | definition of stub

1. <computer programming> A dummy procedure used when linking a program with a run-time library. The stub routine need not contain any code and is only present to prevent "undefined label" errors at link time.

2. <computer programming, networking> A local procedure in a remote procedure call. The client calls the stub to perform some task and need not necessarily be aware that RPC is involved. The stub transmits parameters over the network to the server and returns the results to the caller.

(01 Mar 1995)

1. The stump of a tree; that part of a tree or plant which remains fixed in the earth when the stem is cut down; applied especially to the stump of a small tree, or shrub. "Stubs sharp and hideous to behold." (Chaucer) "And prickly stubs instead of trees are found." (Dryden)

2. A log; a block; a blockhead.

3. The short blunt part of anything after larger part has been broken off or used up; hence, anything short and thick; as, the stub of a pencil, candle, or cigar.

4. A part of a leaf in a check book, after a check is torn out, on which the number, amount, and destination of the check are usually recorded.

5. A pen with a short, blunt nib.

6. A stub nail; an old horseshoe nail; also, stub iron.

<medicine> Stub end, the part of the end of a sawn log or plank which is beyond the place where the saw kerf ends, and which retains the plank in connection with the log, until it is split off. Stub twist, material for a gun barrel, made of a spirally welded ribbon of steel and stub iron combined.

Origin: OE. Stubbe, AS. Stub, styb; akin to D. Stobbe, LG. Stubbe, Dan. Stub, Sw. Stubbe, Icel. Stubbr, stubbi; cf. Gr.

(01 Mar 1998)