Lewis & Short

stīpĕs, ĭtis (collat. form stips, stīpis, Petr. 43, 5), m. [root stip-, = Gr. στεφ-; v. stipo; Sanscr. sthapa-jami, to cause to stand, to fix, place; cf. stipula].

  1. I. Lit., a log, stock, post, trunk of a tree, etc. (class.; syn.: palus, sudes), Cat. 64, 289; Caes. B. G. 7, 73; id. B. C. 1, 27; Tib. 1, 1, 11 (21); Prop. 4 (5), 2, 18; Ov. M. 8, 451; id. F. 2, 642; 5, 506; Verg. A. 7, 524; Curt. 8, 10, 30; 4, 3, 10: deligare ad stipitem, to a stake, Suet. Ner. 29.
    As a term of contempt, like our log, stock, post, of a stupid person: in me quidvis harum rerum convenit, Quae sunt dicta in stultum, caudex, stipes, asinus, plumbeus, Ter. Heaut. 5, 1, 4: qui, tamquam truncus atque stipes, si stetisset modo, posset sustinere tamen titulum consulatus, Cic. Pis. 9, 19; cf. id. Har. Resp. 3, 5; id. ap. Senat. 6, 14; Claud. in Eutr. 1, 126.
  2. II. Transf., poet.
      1. 1. A tree, Ov. F. 3, 37; id. de Nuce, 32; Verg. A. 4, 444; Claud. Cons. Prob. et Olybr. 179.
      2. 2. A branch of a tree, Luc. 9, 820; Mart. 13, 19, 2: candelabri, the main stem of the candlestick, Vulg. Exod. 37, 19.