Stiff definition

Stiff





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3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Stiff \Stiff\, a. [Compar. {Stiffer}; superl. {Stiffest}.] [OE.
     stif, AS. st[imac]f; akin to D. stijf, G. steif, Dan. stiv,
     Sw. styf, Icel. st[imac]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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              [They] rising on stiff pennons, tower
              The mid aerial sky.                   --Milton.
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     2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated;
        neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff.
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     3. Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff
        gale or breeze.
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     4. Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate;
        pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary.
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              It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument.
                                                    --Jer. Taylor.
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              A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause,
              Stiff to defend their hospitable laws. --Dryden.
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     5. Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected;
        starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style.
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              The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the
              Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved.
                                                    --Addison.
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     6. Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear. [Obs. or
        Colloq.] "This is stiff news." --Shak.
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     7. (Naut.) Bearing a press of canvas without careening much;
        as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to {crank}. --Totten.
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     8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff
        charge; a stiff price. [Slang]
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     {Stiff neck}, a condition of the neck such that the head can
        not be moved without difficulty and pain.
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     Syn: Rigid; inflexible; strong; hardly; stubborn; obstinate;
          pertinacious; harsh; formal; constrained; affected;
          starched; rigorous.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  stiff
       adj 1: lacking ease in bending; not limber; "a stiff neck"; "stiff
              joints"; "stiff hairs"
       2: not moving or operating freely; "a stiff hinge"
       3: powerful; "a stiff current"; "a stiff breeze"; "a stiff
          drink"
       4: rigidly formal; "a starchy manner"; "the letter was stiff
          and formal"; "his prose has a buckram quality" [syn: {starchy},
           {buckram}]
       5: hard to overcome or surmount; "a stiff hike"; "a stiff
          exam"; "an uphill battle against a popular incumbant"
          [syn: {uphill}]
       6: of a collar; standing up rather than folded down; "an
          uncomfortable standup collar"; "a stiff collar" [syn: {stand-up}]
       7: incapable of or resistant to bending; "a rigid strip of
          metal"; "a table made of rigid plastic"; "a palace
          guardsman stiff as a poker" [syn: {rigid}]
       8: very drunk [syn: {besotted}, {blind drunk}, {blotto}, {crocked},
           {cockeyed}, {fuddled}, {loaded}, {pie-eyed}, {pissed}, {pixilated},
           {plastered}, {potty}, {slopped}, {sloshed}, {smashed}, {soaked},
           {soused}, {sozzled}, {squiffy}, {tiddly}, {tiddley}, {tight},
           {tipsy}, {wet}]
       n 1: an ordinary man; "a lucky stiff"; "a working stiff"
       2: the dead body of a human being [syn: {cadaver}, {corpse}, {clay},
           {remains}]
       adv 1: extremely; "bored stiff"; "frightened stiff"
       2: in a stiff manner; "his hands lay stiffly" [syn: {stiffly}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  522 Moby Thesaurus words for "stiff":
     Arab, Bowery bum, Latinate, a bit much, abandoned, abusive,
     adamant, adamantine, afflictive, alcoholic, all thumbs, aloof,
     arduous, arid, artificial, ashes, austere, awkward, balker,
     balky horse, barren, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar,
     beggarly fellow, blah, blank, blighter, blind, blind drunk,
     bloodless, blotto, blue-collar worker, blunderheaded, blundering,
     bo, body, bold, bombastic, bones, boorish, boundless, breadwinner,
     brisk, brittle, buckram, budmash, bum, bumbling, bummer, bungling,
     butterfingered, cadaver, caitiff, carcass, careless, carrion,
     cartilaginous, cast-iron, casual, casual laborer, ceremonious,
     challenging, characterless, cheapskate, chewy, chilly, clay,
     clownish, clumsy, clumsy-fisted, cohesive, cold, colorless,
     common laborer, compact, cool, coriaceous, corpse, corpus delicti,
     costly, cramped, crock, crowbait, cruel, cumbersome, cumbrous,
     day laborer, dead, dead as mutton, dead body, dead man,
     dead person, dear, dear-bought, decedent, dense, derelict,
     determined, devil, difficult, dismal, distressing, dog, dogged,
     dogie, dour, draggy, drastic, drearisome, dreary, drifter,
     drunkard, dry, dry bones, dryasdust, dull, durable, dust, dusty,
     earth, effete, egregious, elephantine, embalmed corpse, employee,
     empty, energetic, enormous, etiolated, exaggerated, excessive,
     excruciating, exhausting, exorbitant, expensive, extravagant,
     extreme, fabulous, factory worker, fade, fancy, fatiguing, fibrous,
     fingers all thumbs, firm, fit for sea, flat, flinty, flunky,
     food for worms, forced, forceful, formal, free lance, free-lancer,
     fresh, full-time worker, fumbling, fundamentalist, gamin, gamine,
     garron, gauche, gawkish, gawky, gigantic, gluttonous, goat,
     gone to seed, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, graceless, grim,
     gristly, guinde, gusty, guttersnipe, hack, had, halting,
     ham-fisted, ham-handed, hand, hard, hard-core, hardened, hardy,
     harrowing, harsh, haughty, heavy, heavy-handed, helpless,
     hidebound, high, high-priced, ho-hum, hobo, hollow, homeless waif,
     howling, hulking, hulky, human wreck, hurtful, hyperbolic,
     hypertrophied, idler, immoderate, immovable, immutable, implacable,
     impliable, in buckram, inane, incontinent, indomitable,
     industrial worker, inelastic, inelegant, inexcitable, inexorable,
     inflexible, inkhorn, inordinate, insipid, intemperate, intense,
     intransigent, iron, ironbound, ironclad, ironhanded,
     irreconcilable, jade, jejune, jobber, jobholder, jughead, labored,
     laborer, laboring man, laborious, landloper, lasting,
     late lamented, lazzarone, leaden, leatherlike, leathery, left-hand,
     left-handed, lifeless, loafer, losel, loutish, low-spirited,
     lowlife, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, luxurious, maladroit,
     mannered, mauvais sujet, mean wretch, menial, merciless, migrant,
     miser, moiler, monstrous, mortal remains, mucker, mudlark,
     mummification, mummy, muscle-bound, nag, navvy, no-good,
     not affordable, oafish, obdurate, obstinate, of great cost,
     office temporary, on the downgrade, organic remains, orthodox, out,
     out cold, out of bounds, out of condition, out of shape,
     out of sight, out of training, outrageous, overbig, overcome,
     overdeveloped, overgreat, overgrown, overlarge, overmuch,
     overpowering, overweening, overwhelming, painful, pale, pallid,
     paralyzed, passed out, pauvre diable, pedantic, pedestrian,
     petrified, piker, pilgarlic, plodding, plug, pointless, pokerlike,
     poky, pompous, ponderous, poor creature, poor devil, potent,
     powerful, premium, pricey, prim, procrustean, proletarian,
     punishing, punitive, purist, puristic, puritan, puritanic,
     ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, ramrodlike, relentless, relics,
     reliquiae, remains, renitent, reserved, resistant, resolute,
     resolved, rich, rigid, rigorist, rigoristic, rigorous, roarer,
     rock-ribbed, rockbound, rodlike, rogue, ropy, rosinante, rough,
     rounder, roustabout, run to seed, rusty, sad case, sad sack,
     salaried worker, scalawag, sea-kindly, seaworthy,
     self-employed person, servant, sesquipedalian, severe, sinewy,
     skeleton, ski bum, skid-row bum, skinflint, slipping, sloppy, slow,
     snobbish, snooty, snug, soft, solemn, solid, solidified, spanking,
     spiritless, standoffish, starch, starched, starchy, stark, staunch,
     steady, steely, steep, sterile, stern, stiff as buckram, stiffened,
     stilted, stodgy, stone-cold, stone-dead, stoned, straightlaced,
     straitlaced, stray, street Arab, street urchin, stringy, strong,
     stubborn, stuffy, sumptuous, sundowner, superficial, surf bum,
     swagman, swagsman, tasteless, tatterdemalion, taut, tedious,
     temporary, tenacious, tender, tenement of clay, tennis bum, tense,
     the dead, the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one,
     thick, tight, tightwad, tiring, toiler, toilsome, too much, top,
     tormenting, torturous, tough, tough as leather, tramp, truant,
     turgid, turnpiker, unaffected, unalterable, unbearable, unbending,
     unbridled, unchangeable, uncompromising, unconscionable, uncouth,
     under the table, undue, unflexible, unfriendly, ungainly, ungiving,
     ungraceful, unhandy, unlively, unmoved, unpayable, unreasonable,
     unrelaxed, unrelenting, unrestrained, untiring, unwieldy,
     unyielding, uphill, uptight, urchin, vag, vagabond, vagrant, vapid,
     vaurien, vigorous, virgate, viscid, wage earner, wage slave,
     wageworker, waif, waifs and strays, wastrel, waterproof,
     watertight, weatherly, whistler, wiry, wooden, worker, workgirl,
     workhand, working girl, workingman, workingwoman, workman,
     worthless fellow, wretch
  
  

















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