Definitions for: Stiff


[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"



Webster (1913) 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.

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

See Also: adult male, body, cremains, dead body, man

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