Dictionary

take the studs en · VERB

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (Midlands, Southern-US) To act in a balky and uncooperative manner.
   • 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:
   • She said, "When I was passing Wily B. Smiths," who was the hoot'n‑toot'n lad "Tanner" adopted, "the mule I was riding took the studs and began going backwards. Try as I did, it wouldn't budge forward." 1997, Arlena Collins Francis, Knott, My Beloved:
   • 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:

Forms