up the stump

prepositional phrase2

1. •
   (informal) At a loss, puzzled, in a bind.

   • Science is up the stump. She can't find out why green sorghum should be so quickly fatal to cattle, says an exchange. — 1900
2. •
   (Canada, informal) Pregnant.

   • Met him at a dance, a skinny little French-Canadian who shot her a line of bull and put her up the stump before waving goodbye from the troop train. — 1976