sticks

Etymology

noun

1. plural of stick

noun

1. (informal, derogatory, with "the") rural terrain, especially a woody area; any rural region.
   We had to drive way out into the sticks to visit that customer.
   "How'd your in-laws feel about you marryin' your wife? Maybe you could pass the paper bag test and the comb test, but your old man had dark skin, kinky hair, and he was a dyed-in-wool bapistst from out in the sticks." 2002 February, Don Spears, Playing for Keeps, Los Angeles: Milligan Books, →OCLC, page 183
2. (horse racing) Hurdles or other obstacles to be jumped over.
   It was a maiden race over the "sticks," and the trainer's instructions were to slip off and make the running throughout. 1902, Outing: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, volume 40, page 469
   Do they prefer flat or 'over the sticks' (jump races)? Does the group know what the races with jumps are called? 2009, Anni Bowden, Nancy Lewthwaite, The Activity Year Book, page 124
3. (slang, chiefly by long-time users) crutches

verb

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of stick