stub
n. countablen. the short part of something that remains after the rest has been used, broken, or removed. You might have a stub from a pencil or a ticket after you enter a show.
n. the short, remaining part of an object after the larger portion has been consumed, detached, or discarded. Often refers to the counterfoil of a cheque or ticket kept for record-keeping purposes.
He kept the ticket stub as a souvenir from the concert.
After the usher scanned her ticket, she tucked the remaining stub into her wallet for her scrapbook.
The investigator found nothing in the ashtray but a single cigar stub, which suggested the suspect had been waiting in the office for a considerable amount of time.
From Middle English stubbe (“tree stump”), from Old English stybb, stubb (“tree stump”), from Proto-West Germanic stubb, from Proto-Germanic stubbaz (compare Middle Dutch stubbe, Old Norse stubbr, Faroese stubbi (“stub”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tew-; compare steep (“sharp slope”). Doublet of stob. Sense extended in Middle English to similarly shaped objects. Verb sense “strike one’s toe” is recorded 1848; “extinguish a cigarette” 1927.
Commonly used in the context of tickets, pencils, and financial documents like cheques or pay slips.