Meaning of STIFF
Pronunciation: | | stif
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WordNet Dictionary |
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| Definition: | |
- [n] the dead body of a human being
- [n] an ordinary man; "a lucky stiff"; "a working stiff"
- [adv] in a stiff manner; "his hands lay stiffly"
- [adv] extremely; "bored stiff"; "frightened stiff"
- [adj] (slang) very drunk
- [adj] incapable of or resistant to bending; "a rigid strip of metal"; "a table made of rigid plastic"; "a palace guardsman stiff as a poker"
- [adj] of a collar; standing up rather than folded down; "an uncomfortable standup collar"; "a stiff collar"
- [adj] lacking ease in bending; not limber; "a stiff neck"; "stiff joints"; "stiff hairs"
- [adj] rigidly formal; "a starchy manner"; "the letter was stiff and formal"; "his prose has a buckram quality"
- [adj] hard to overcome or surmount; "a stiff hike"; "a stiff exam"; "an uphill battle against a popular incumbant"
- [adj] not moving or operating freely; "a stiff hinge"
- [adj] powerful; "a stiff current"; "a stiff breeze"; "a stiff drink"
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| Synonyms: | | besotted, blind drunk, blotto, buckram, cadaver, clay, corpse, crocked, drunk, formal, fuddled, hard, immobile, inebriated, inflexible, intoxicated, loaded, pie-eyed, pissed, pixilated, plastered, potty, remains, rigid, slopped, sloshed, smashed, soaked, soused, sozzled, squiffy, stand-up, starchy, stiffly, strong, tiddley, tiddly, tight, tipsy, uphill, wet |
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| See Also: | | adult male, body, cremains, dead body, man | |
Products Dictionary |
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| Definition: | | Stiff STIFF numerates the many contributions humans have made to science as cadavers. Roach highlights some of the uses the living have found for the dead, such as charting human decay at a center in Tennessee and establishing the certainty of the Shroud of Turin by crucifying a dead body in a Paris research lab. With these investigative tales and more, STIFF breathes new life into the sacrifices the deceased have made for the rest of us. more details ... |
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Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| Definition: | | \Stiff\, a. [Compar. {Stiffer}; superl. {Stiffest}.] [OE.
stif, AS. st[=i]f; akin to D. stijf, G. steif, Dan. stiv, Sw.
styf, Icel. st[=i]fr, Lith. stipti to be stiff; cf. L. stipes
a post, trunk of a tree, stipare to press, compress. Cf.
{Costive}, {Stifle}, {Stipulate}, {Stive} to stuff.]
1. Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or
flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints.
[They] rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid
a["e]rial sky. --Milton.
2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated;
neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff.
3. Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff
gale or breeze.
4. Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate;
pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary.
It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument.
--Jer. Taylor.
A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause, Stiff to
defend their hospitable laws. --Dryden.
5. Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected;
starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style.
The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the
Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved.
--Addison.
6. Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear. [Obs. or
Colloq.] ``This is stiff news.'' --Shak.
7. (Naut.) Bearing a press of canvas without careening much;
as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to {crank}. --Totten.
8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff
charge; a stiff price. [Slang]
{Stiff neck}, a condition of the neck such that the head can
not be moved without difficulty and pain.
Syn: Rigid; inflexible; strong; hardly; stubborn; obstinate;
pertinacious; harsh; formal; constrained; affected;
starched; rigorous.
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