Word.ws English Dictionary

take the studs

take the studs verb: to act in a balky and uncooperative manner.

Verb

take the studs (third-person singular simple present takes the studs, present participle taking the studs, simple past took the studs, past participle taken the studs)

  1. (Midlands, Southern US) To act in a balky and uncooperative manner.
    • Pap has taken the studs, and I have made up my mind to leave here for good and all.1891, Joel Chandler Harris, Balaam and His Master
    • When I was eight years old my mother started me to an old water mill with two bushels of corn to get meal and put me on an old mule named "John," put a spur on my right heel to make the old mule go if he took the studs.1918, History of Corporal Fess Whitaker, pages 10–11

Forms of take the studs

third-person singular presenttakes the studs
present participletaking the studs
pasttook the studs
past participletaken the studs

Origin of take the studs

From an Old English dialect phrase "take the sturdies".

Questions about take the studs

What does take the studs mean?
Take the studs means to act in a balky and uncooperative manner.
What part of speech is take the studs?
Take the studs is a verb.
What is the past tense of take the studs?
The past tense of take the studs is took the studs.

Words near take the studs in the dictionary

  1. take the shadow for the substance
  2. take the shilling
  3. take the shine out of
  4. take the stage
  5. take the stand
  6. take the studs
  7. take the stump
  8. take the sun
  9. take the time
  10. take the trouble
  11. take the veil

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: take the studs (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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