stub ((n.))

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

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a tall, dead tree, especially one that is blackened and branchless from being caught in a forest fire.

Quotations

1924

I saw them [woodpeckers] entering dark holes in lofty dead trees, or branchless stubs, impossible for a small boy to climb.

1933

. . . every mile or two there is a broken-off stub. . . .

1965

[Caption] Park Rangers . . . keep the portage trails open. Here they get rid of a "widow-maker," a dead stub hung up over the trail.