"Obliged to cut his stick..."

[lklawson]

OK, here's another odd entry from Owen Swift's fight records in "Boxing."

1837 May 12. Deaf Burk and O'Rourke fought in America; ring broken in; the "Deaf Un" obliged to cut his stick for safety.
​

"Breaking in" the ring is when the spectators force through the ropes and distrupt the fight. Sometimes they did this as a mass riot for various reasons. I can get the gist of "cut his stick" from the context but I'm not actually certain of its specific meaning or how the phrase would be applied in another circumstance.

Still, it caught my attention (well, so did the fighter on Dec. 12 with a nome de guerre of "Old Nip" but that's another issue).

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[CoryKS]

Found this from Google. Cut his stick. The original article is no longer available, so link goes to Google cache.

 

[lklawson]

A Cricket refference.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Nagel]

Haha, the suggestive title lured me in. It's sounds like what a wife might say if she caught her hubby in bed with someone else.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

http://www.bartleby.com/81/4524.html

I must cut my stick—i.e. leave. The Irish usually cut a shillelah before they start on an expedition. Punch gives the following witty derivation:—“Pilgrims on leaving the Holy Land used to cut a palm-stick, to prove that they had really been to the Holy Sepulchre. So brother Francis would say to brother Paul, ‘Where is brother Benedict?’ ‘Oh (says Paul), he has cut his stick!’—i.e. he is on his way home.”