From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstick up phrasal verb1 STICK OUTif a part of something sticks up, it is raised up or points upwards above a surface from/out of/through etc Part of the boat was sticking up out of the water.2 stick 'em up spoken informalOBEY used to tell someone to raise their hands when threatening them with a gun – used in films, stories etc → stick→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
stick up• Can you see that branch that's sticking up?• A church steeple stuck up above the roofs of the surrounding cottages.• His hair was white, and stuck up in tufts on his head.• He saw a hand sticking up through the snow.stick from/out of/through etc• There was celery sticking up out of her drink.• When bulls die, we bury them with one or both horns sticking up out of the ground.stick-upˈstick-up noun [countable] informalSTEAL a hold-upExamples from the Corpus
stick-up• Did executives of the Colorado Rockies pull a stick-up at the city treasury? 