Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sticking \Stick"ing\, a. & n. from Stick, v.
Sticking piece, a piece of beef cut from the neck. [Eng.]
Sticking place, the place where a thing sticks, or remains fast; sticking point.
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we'll not fail.
--Shak.
Sticking plaster, an adhesive plaster for closing wounds, and for similar uses.
Sticking point. Same as Sticking place, above.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 (context idiomatic English) A disputed issue or state of affairs that causes an interruption or outright impasse in progress towards some goal or resolution, especially in negotiation or argumentation. 2 (context idiomatic dated English) The point at which a process or thing, especially a state of mind or emotion, reaches its greatest strength and remains steadfast; sticking-place. n. 1 (context idiomatic English) A disputed issue or state of affairs that causes an interruption or outright impasse in progress towards some goal or resolution, especially in negotiation or argumentation. 2 (context idiomatic dated English) The point at which a process or thing, especially a state of mind or emotion, reaches its greatest strength and remains steadfast; sticking-place.
WordNet
n. a point at which an impasse arises in progress towrd and agreement or a goal
Usage examples of "sticking point".
It requires about ten minutes for me to screw up my courage to the sticking point and for Ernest to get his cunt's dress up so that she's showing her bare ass to the world.
On the way out from the mine I'd come to the conclusion that there was one thing and one thing only to do: I'd screwed what little was left of my nerve up to the sticking point to do it and when the doing had proved impossible the reaction had been correspondingly great.
An open mind could go either way when it came down to the sticking point.
The story that the previous occupant had been stabbed to death on the premises after disturbing a burglar had proven something of a sticking point.
This was the sticking point in my own little lame march to salvation: admission to heaven is gained by the luck of the draw.
You've got yourself nerved up to the sticking point, and that's good, but keep your focus.
Even sitting in front of the typewriter slightly hung-over, drinking cups of black coffee and crunching a Rolaid or two every couple of hours (knowing he should give up the fucking cigarettes, at least in the morning, but unable to bring himself to the sticking point), months from finishing and light-years from publication, you knew the gotta when you got it.
Perhaps that's why no one really understood that when it came to the sticking point, as it were, his will would fail him.
Skipper greased his sling with slippery bark and checked the rows of dangerous-looking otter javelins sticking point down into the bank.
He had budgeted for an Augustus Robb primed to the sticking point.
Must screw our courage to the sticking point and face up to our impending fate.