stump, stump speech, be stumped

How to finance dementia care? It is a question that continues to stump governments around the world


Hustings is the British equivalent of the US word stump. Originally, campaigning politicians conveniently used the stump of a large tree to stand on and to speak from. Today, it's metaphorically used in expressions such as stump speech (campaign speech) or on the stump (on the campaign trail). Until 1872 Hustings was the raised platform from which candidates were nominated for the British Parliament, and where they addressed electors.

stump

verb

US 

 /stʌmp/

stump verb (CONFUSE)

 

[ T ]

to confuse or cause someone to be unable to understand or explain something:

He seemed stumped by our questions.

 be stumped informal

 

to be unable to answer a question or solve a problem because it is too difficult:

I'm completely stumped - how did she manage to escape?

Scientists are stumped by this mystery virus.