sticking place

noun

1. Also called sticking point. the place or point at which something stops and holds firm.
2. the place in the lower part of an animal's neck where the knife is thrust in slaughtering.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sticking place¹

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

But while I screwed my courage to the sticking place and sought to hold it there, the pause became a keen-edged agony.

From Project Gutenberg

She taunted him as being a coward, and told him to “screw his courage up to the sticking-place, and he would not fail.”

From Project Gutenberg

Macbeth “screwed his courage up to the sticking-place” indeed, and then and there was the end of the life of Duncan.

From Project Gutenberg

At the appointed hour next morning, the young man, screwing up his courage to the sticking-place, knocked at the door of Oaklands.

From Project Gutenberg

But as he again approached with courage screwed to the sticking-place, a spruce hansom dashed up before him.

From Project Gutenberg