Stick (unit)

The stick may refer to several separate units, depending on the item being measured.

Length

In typography, the stick, stickful, or stick of type was an inexact length based on the size of the various composing sticks used by newspaper editors to assemble pieces of moveable type. In English-language papers, it was roughly equal to 2 column inches or 100–150 words. In France, Spain, and Italy, sticks generally contained only between 1 and 4 lines of text each. A column was notionally equal to 10 sticks.

Mass

A stick of butter

In American cooking, a stick of butter is taken to be 4 ounces (about 113 g).

Volume

In American cooking, a stick of butter may also be understood as ½ cup or 8 tablespoons (about 118 mL).

See also

• English, imperial, and US customary units
• Traditional point-size names

References

Bibliography

• "stick, n.¹", Oxford English Dictionary, 1st ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1916.
• Bloom, Carole (2007), The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices, and Other Ingredients, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 9780764576454.
• Natasha (2015), "Baking Conversions", Butter Baking: A Blog of Baked Goods, retrieved 30 April 2015.
• Campbell-Copeland, Thomas (1893), The Ladder of Journalism: How to Climb It, New York: Gibb Bros & Morgan for Allan Forman.
• Jackson, Hartley Everett (1937), 26 Lead Soldiers: Printing Types, Methods, Machines, Redwood City: Stanford University Press, ISBN 9780804710862.
• Pasko, Wesley Washington (1894), "Stickful", American Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking: Containing a History of These Arts in Europe and America, with Definitions of Technical Terms and Biographical Sketches, New York: Howard Lockwood & Co., p. 529.
• Williamson, Richard D. (1984), "Glossary", Journalist 3&2, vol. 1, Naval Education & Training Program Development Center, hdl:2027/uiug.30112074941706.