What is a "stud," as in the walls of a structure?

What is a stud that is found in walls? I always hear, that before drilling, you should locate the studs. What are they? What is their purpose?

Answers:
It's one of the pieces of wood that helps support the structure behind the drywall (your wall). Drilling into a stud can give you additional support for something heavy you want to hang, or make it more difficult to hammer something into the wall (since you're not going just through drywall, but the wood behind it.

Other answers:
a peice of wood
a peice of wood
Studs are the wood supports that hold up the wall, such as 2 x 4's or 2 x 6's, etc.
Boards that make up the infastructure of the wall. the are usually on 12'' or 16'' centers,meaning that every 12 or 16 inches you should be able to find a board or stud in the wall
inside the wall there is a framework of (usually) 2X4s that supports the wallboard (the drywall or whatever) that you paint or put paneling on. you need to know where they are so that when you hang things on the wall (especially heavy things) you're screwing or nailing into something that's more solid than the wallboard.
They are vertical braces to hold the roof up for one thing as well as to give form to the wall. Be careful when drilling because you could drill a pipe or an electrical wire.
the stud is 2x4 that is the frame work of the house for it holds your walls on both sides and is support for any of the house above it they are set at 16 inch centers that is for new homes to day for i have found old homes with 36 inch centers they were 3x4 studs in old framed homes.
Usually a 2x4 inside the wall.
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