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Stiff   /stɪf/   Listen
adjective
Stiff  adj.  (compar. stiffer; superl. stiffest)  
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 aerial sky."
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." "A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause, Stiff to defend their hospitable laws."
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."
6.
Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear. (Obs. or Colloq.) "This is stiff news."
7.
(Naut.) Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; opposed to crank.
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.
Synonyms: Rigid; inflexible; strong; hardly; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; harsh; formal; constrained; affected; starched; rigorous.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Stiff" Quotes from Famous Books



... road the child had come. Now to this the little one was rather inclined, for he believed it would take him home, but on attempting to walk he found that he had hurt his foot before he had reached the rock, and that the cold air had made it stiff and painful. Poor Reuben was going to cry, and then I do not know what would have happened if Nero, finding out that something was wrong, had not seated himself beside the child on the ground to comfort him; and in so doing, ...
— Brotherly Love - Shewing That As Merely Human It May Not Always Be Depended Upon • Mrs. Sherwood

... thick hobnailed boots and a stiff sukmana,[1] fastened a hard strap round his waist, and put on his high sheepskin cap. The heaviness in his limbs increased, and it came into his mind that it would be more suitable to be buried in a bundle of straw after a huge bowl of peeled barley-soup ...
— Selected Polish Tales • Various

... rode at her rein, on a lyart {28} palfrey, and she looking up, I saw the face of Elliot, and Elliot saw me, and saw Charlotte leaning on me and laughing. Then Elliot's face grew deadly pale, her lower lip stiff, as when she was angered with me at Chinon, and so, wrying her neck suddenly to the left, she rode on her way, nor ...
— A Monk of Fife • Andrew Lang

... back after the lecture to the Prince's flat in Royal Court Mansions, which, as a bachelor and a bird of passage, he found much more convenient in many ways than a house. He ordered his Russian servant to make coffee for his guest, and mixed a stiff brandy-and-soda for himself. He wanted it, for the experiences of the evening had shaken even his nerves not a little. He was essentially a man of power, both physically and mentally, of boundless ambitions and iron will, vast knowledge of the world, as he knew it, and of very high intellectual ...
— The Mummy and Miss Nitocris - A Phantasy of the Fourth Dimension • George Griffith

... egg is much easier to digest than the yolk, therefore the whites only should be used in cases of very weak digestion. Beaten up with orange juice, they are both palatable and wholesome; or they may be beaten very stiff and served cold with a sauce of prune juice or other cooked fruit juices. This makes a ...
— Nature Cure • Henry Lindlahr


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