shtick
or shtik
[shtik]
- (especially in comic acting) a routine or piece of business inserted to gain a laugh or draw attention to oneself.
- one's special interest, talent, etc.
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Origin of shtick
1955–60; < Yiddish shtik pranks, whims, literally, piece < Middle High German stücke, Old High German stucki (German Stück); cf. stucco
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shtick
Contemporary Examples
Critics who are less bullish on The Crazy Ones bemoan all of this, protesting that the Robin Williams shtick is worn out.
‘The Michael J. Fox Show’ & Robin Williams’s ‘The Crazy Ones’ Are Fall’s Best New SitcomsKevin Fallon
September 26, 2013
He'll talk up his Senate ambitions for awhile, bask in the political limelight, and then stick with his current shtick.
And the dupes are the folks who bought into the shtick, carrying signs at Tea Party rallies that read “Glenn Beck is my hero.”
One reason younger audiences have not yet embraced the videos may be that the shtick feels stale.
She generated howls of laughter as she launched into her “do the math” shtick about the “hair and makeup” handicap.
Former Wall Street Executive Sallie Krawcheck Critiques Financial Reform PolicyAllan Dodds Frank
October 16, 2012
Historical Examples
Thin will ye tell me, Mrs. Ryan, why didn't they shtick till it?
He never said a word but to take the shtick and fire me dead with it on the sthrand.
Humours of Irish LifeVarious
It was "the shtick" which kept things together so far as they were kept so at all.
Disturbed IrelandBernard H. Becker
Divil a shtick but me door-key, an' that they tuk home an' lift in the door.
Martin Hewitt, InvestigatorArthur Morrison
He handed the cob to the waiter, and asked, "Will you plaze put some more beans on my shtick?"
Science in the Kitchen.Mrs. E. E. Kellogg
shtick
schtick
- slang a comedian's routine; act; piece
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Word Origin
C20: from Yiddish shtik piece, from Middle High German stücke
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for shtick
n.
also schtick, 1959, from Yiddish shtik "an act, gimmick," literally "a piece, slice," from Middle High German stücke "piece, play," from Old High German stucki (see stock (n.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper