Other forms: studs, studded
A stud is one of the short upright posts inside a wall — the timbers hidden behind the plasterboard that hold the whole partition up. When someone runs a little magnet along the wall before hanging a shelf, a stud is what they are hunting for.
The word spreads wide from there. A stud is also a small fastener or ornament with a short shaft: a diamond stud in an ear, the studs down the front of a dress shirt, the metal studs on a leather jacket. Football boots have studs, the blunt points that grip the mud. A stud is a male animal kept for breeding — a horse sent to stud — and also the farm where such animals are kept; used of a man, stud is slang about sex, so leave that one alone. The verb turns up almost only as studded with: a sky studded with stars, a belt studded with silver.
1nounstudAn upright timber in the frame of a wall.
“He tapped along the wall to find a stud before drilling.”
2nounornamentA small ornament or fastener with a short shaft, pushed through cloth or a pierced ear.
“She wore a single pearl stud in each ear.”
3nounpointA short raised point on a boot, tyre or surface, there to grip.
“He changed to longer studs for the wet pitch.”
4nounmaleA male animal kept for breeding, or the farm where such animals are kept.
“The horse won twice at Ascot and then went to stud.”
5verbdotTo dot or cover a surface with small raised things.
“The gate was studded with iron nails.”
The breeding sense is the one traced furthest back: Old English stōd, a herd of horses kept for breeding, from Proto-Germanic *stōdą. It has close cousins across the North Sea — Middle Low German stōt, Dutch stoet, Old Norse stóð and German Stute, which now simply means a mare. A stud farm still keeps the herd the old word named.
Proto-Germanic
*stōdą
Proto-West Germanic
*stōd
Old English
stōd
Middle English
stood
English, today
stud
From Middle English stood, stod, from Old English stōd, from Proto-West Germanic stōd, from Proto-Germanic stōdą. Cognate with Middle Low German stōt, German Stute, Dutch stoet and Old Norse stóð.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA