Forms: 1 stíf, 2– stif (2–4 also inflected stive), 3–4 stijf, 3–6 styf, 4–6 styfe, (5 stuffe), 4–6 styffe, 4–7 stiffe, 4– stiff. [OE. stíf (once only, in a gloss) corresponds to MLG. stîf (mod.LG. stief), (M)Du. stijf, MHG. (? from MLG.) stîf (mod.G. steif); NFris. has styf, stif, WFris. stiif, which may descend from OFris. *stîf; the Sw. styf, Da. stiv (whence Icel. stíf-ur) are prob. adopted from LG. The OTeut. type *stīfo-:—pre-Teut. *stīpo- is cogn. w. L. stīpāre to crowd, stīpes stake, Lith. stiprus strong.
The long vowel of OE. stíf, corresponding with that of the continental Teut. forms, is evidenced by the ME. spelling stijf, and by the pronunciation current in some mod. Eng. dialects. The present standard Eng. form, however, is abnormal as representing OE. stíf; it is uncertain whether a shortening has taken place from some unknown cause, or whether OE. had beside stíf an ablaut variant stif:—OTeut. type *stifo- or *stiƀo-. On the latter supposition, ME. stef, STEEVE a., may be a variant of this word.]
A. adj.
I. 1. Rigid; not flexible or pliant.
c. 1000. Prudentius Glosses, 272, in Germania, N.S. XI. 394/1. Rigentem [barbam], stifne.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 139. Bare eorðe to bedde, and hard ston to bolstre, stiue here to shurte.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxliii. (1495), 700. A thyrde kynde of wylowes is meane bytwene the two fyrste … for it is more plyaunt than the more: and more stifle than the lesse.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 475/1. Styffe, or starke, rigidus.
1530. Palsgr., 325/2. Styffe as a thyng is that wyll nat bowe, royde.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 45. The time of cutting of it [grass] is when the Bent beginneth to fade and to waxe stiffe.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 36. Horror gan the virgins hart to perse, And her faire locks vp stared stiffe on end.
a. 1677. Barrow, Wks. (1686), III. Serm. xvi. 189. As a stick, when once ’tis dry and stiff, you may break it, but you can never bend it into a streighter posture.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 559. The Garment, stiff with Ice, at Hearths is thaw’d.
1717. Prior, Alma, II. 35. The Gown with stiff Embroid’ry shining.
1801. in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. p. ccxxvii*. With sleet and rain, ropes stiff, and sails half set, very squally, she works like a Cutter.
1842. Tennyson, Morte d’Arthure, 64. The many-knotted waterflags, That whistled stiff and dry about the marge.
1887. Fenn, Master Cerem., ii. Isaac was in his striped jacket and the stiffest of white cravats.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 215. A narrow piece can now be nailed along the top to keep all stiff.
1913. Standard, 14 July, 4/6. An emulsion of paraffin and soft soap, applied … with a stiff brush.
2. Of the body, limbs, joints, muscles, etc.: Lacking suppleness, unable to move without pain (esp. owing to age, cold, injury, disease, exhaustion, etc.).
To have a stiff neck: to suffer from a rheumatic affection of the neck (usually caused by exposure to a draught) in which the head cannot be moved without pain.
c. 1305. St. Andrew, 95, in E. E. P. (1862), 101. Here armes whan hi vpward reiȝte bicome as stif as treo.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Obrigeo, to be or waxe styffe for colde.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxiii. (1887), 122. The body … withall is verie wearysome, and stir oftymes after.
1799. Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., Frenchm. T. (ed. 2), I. 329. When I awoke, I found my limbs stiff at once with weariness and cold.
1840. Thackeray, Barber Cox, Feb. You and I, ma’am, I think, are too stiff to dance.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xxxiv. They were stiff with their long and jolting drive from Whitcross.
1865. W. Pennefather, in Braithwaite, Life & Lett. (1878), 393. I am like a stiff Irish post-horse, which, after it has stood still for an hour or two in the stable, can hardly move a limb.
1873. F. T. Roberts, Theory & Pract. Med., 242. Torticollis, wry-neck, or stiff-neck.
1902. Alice Terton, Lights & Shadows in Hosp., xi. 180. He was already possessed of one stiff leg, and came into the hospital to have the other amputated.
1911. Encycl. Brit., XV. 488/2. A stiff joint may remain as the result of long continued inflammation.
1915. ‘F. Anstey,’ Percy, 6. I’d a good deal sooner put up with a little stuffiness than a stiff neck!
transf. 1804. Wordsw., Small Celandine, 19. Stiff in its members, withered, changed of hue.
b. Rigid in death. Stiff and stark: see STARK 4 b. Stiff one, stiff ’un, a corpse (slang).
a. 1200. Soul & Body, in Phillipps, Fragm. Ælfr. Gloss., 5. He [sc. the dead man] biþ sone stif.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7030. Astrangled he was riȝt þer, & deide atte borde al stif.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, I. xxiii. 32. He falling from hye brake his nek, he in etinge sodenly waxid stif.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 257. Those blessed armes … whiche were so sore stretched on the crosse, now all starke & styffe.
1603. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw., 146. You shall see … many travellers brought into the townes sitting deade and stiffe.
1831. Ann. Reg., Law Cases, etc. (1832), 321/1. He wanted witness to fetch a stiff ’un, which witness believes meant a dead body.
1837. Lady Willoughby de Eresby, in C. K. Sharpe’s Lett. (1888), II. 498. He addrest him [his adversary in a duel]: ‘Ah! you’ll be a stiff one by to-morrow.’
1890. Besant, Demoniac, i. 17. If he hadn’t been such an uncommon big man he would be a dead un, too—stiff un and dead!
c. In figurative context.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lxxiv. 5. Speake not with a stiff necke.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 16. He … passeth by with stiffe vnbowed Knee Disdaining dutie that to vs belongs.
d. Of machinery, etc.: Working with excessive friction; apt to stick, hard to move.
1848. Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, v. The plugs were stiff, and water could not be got.
3. Rigid as the result of tension; taut. Now rare or Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 559. Thanne shal this cherl with bely stif and toght As any Tabour, been hyder ybroght.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, VIII. 260. Another arrow forth from his stiffe string he sent.
1649. Milton, Eikon., xxvii. 216. We shall not have it unless his arbitrary voice will so farr slack’n the stiff curb of his Prerogative, as to grant it us.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), s.v. Set, To set taught the shrouds, in the Navigators Dialect, is to make them stiffer when they are too slack.
4. Of a semi-liquid substance: Thick or viscous, so as to flow with difficulty or to be capable of retaining a definite shape.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., I. 15. & let þe Sirippe be rennyng, & not to styf. Ibid. (c. 1450), II. 71. Grynde hem thorgh a Streynour into stuffe mylke.
1594. Gd. Huswifes Handmaid Kitchin, 40 b. Set the pan in some colde place that it [the liquor] may be stiffe: and when it is stiffe, take a sharp knife and cut away the vppermost of the gellie.
168[?]. Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 262. In Summer time use your Morter as soft as you can, but in the Winter time pretty stiff or hard.
c. 1770. Mrs. Glasse, Compl. Confectioner, 118. Then work it up into a stiff paste.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xix. (1842), 503. If the hot part be on the convex side, it yields … much more than the stiffer glass on the cooler part.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 271. Stiff paste such as used by bookbinders.
5. Of soil: Heavy, dense; not porous or friable; difficult to work.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 10. Bigge and styffe grounde, as cley.
1618. W. Lawson, Orch. & Gard. (1623), 4. A stiffe clay will not receiue the water.
1763. Museum Rust., I. 194. On some stiff spewy land I have, I sow my peas in ridges.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. ii. 19. Stiff lands, on which water was apt to lie, were ridged.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Stiff Bottom, a clayey bottom.
6. Tight, closely packed. Now hyperbolically in colloquial use: Densely crowded (with).
1683. [see JUSTIFY v. 9].
1907. Motor Boat, 19 Sept., 182/1. There seemed as many, if not more, yachts than ever, and the water was ‘stiff’ with masts and rigging.
1915. Daily News, 16 Aug., 4. I shall never forget one of his picturesque phrases about the difficulty of entering a harbour ‘stiff with craft’ on a dark night.
1916. [‘Ian Hay’], in Blackw. Mag., Feb., 284/2. The salient is stiff with guns.
7. Of a ship: Offering a high resistance to deflection from the vertical or normal floating position; stable, not crank.
A ship is more or less stiff according as the height of the metacenter above the center of gravity is greater or less.
1627. Capt. Smith, Sea Gram., xii. 56. So stiffe, she should beare a stiffe saile and beare out her lower tier in any reasonable weather.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. lxiii. Our … Vessels might not … be walt, but well trimmed, and stiff.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., II. 10. She [the ship] was a lovely creature, and as stiff as a church.
1889. Welch, Text Bk. Naval Archit., i. 21. In order that the ship may be stiff—i.e. difficult to incline by external forces such as wind pressure on sails.
8. fig. Inflexible of purpose, steadfast, resolute, firm, constant.
c. 1205. Lay., 2110. Stif he wes on þonke.
c. 1300. Beket (Percy Soc.), 944. Somme of the Kinges conseillers to him ofte wende, And seide, bote he hulde him stif, al his lond he schende.
1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV. (1550), 24 b. All the tounes round about were permanent and stiffe on the parte of kyng Henry, and could not be remoued.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. v. We must be stiffe and steddie in resolve.
1719. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., III. 72. He was Mr. Penns stiff Friend.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xxxvii. He asked me more than once [to marry him], and was as stiff about urging his point as ever you could be.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 4 Jan., 1/1. We shall have to be a great deal stiffer about the Soudan.
b. In an unfavorable sense: Obstinate, stubborn; not amenable to reason. Now rare.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 304. Whan they shall be obstynate in malyce, & styffe as a drye stycke.
1530. Palsgr., 325/2. Styffe as ones herte is, dur.
1563. Homilies, II. xviii. 255. These thynges must be considered of the man, that he be not to styffe, so that he ought to wynke at some thynges, and must gentilly expounde all thynges, and to forbeare.
1601. Bp. W. Barlow, Serm. Paules Crosse, 49. Two of thy principall, stiffe and open Papists.
a. 1677. Barrow, Wks. (1686), III. Serm. xxxiv. 378. To be termed … a clownish singularist,… a stiff opiniatre [are opprobrious names].
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., I. 547. Stiff in Opinions, always in the wrong.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, III. (1724), I. 345. You know my brother long ago, that he is as stiff as a mule.
1725. T. Thomas, in Portland MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), VI. 122. A civil well-behaved man though a stiff Presbyterian.
1838. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. II. vii. 104. Considerable stiff folks, in their way them quakers—you can’t no more move ’em than a church steeple.
† c. To stand stiff: to stand firm; esp. fig. to be steadfast or obstinate. Obs.
a. 1290. St. Eustace, 24, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 212. He stod stiuest of alle.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. IX. 28. For stonde he neuere so stif he stumbleþ in þe waggyng.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xxviii. 1. The vngodly flyeth no man chasynge him, but the rightuous stondeth stiff as a lyon.
1556. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, I. (1561), C 2. Neither will I stand stiffe that mine is better then yours.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems (1650), 28. Small townes which stand stiffe, till great shot Enforce them.
1655. Jer. Taylor, Guide Devot. (1719), 50. It is a Shame to stand stiff in a foolish or weak Argument or Resolution.
d. Of a battle, debate, etc.: Stubbornly contested, hard.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 5. Þat plait was stif and starc and strong.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 2050. So sture & styff was þe stoure.
1639. Conceits, Clinches, etc. (1860), 29. One was holding a stiffe argument with a grocer concerning matters of trade.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Surrey (1662), 77. There is a stiff contest betwixt the Dutch and Italians which should exceed in this Mystery.
1812. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), VIII. 666. Marmont’s troops are all ready for a start but I hope to be strong enough for a stiff affair with him and Soult.
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, 166. In the ring, ’tis called ‘a stiff fight’ when the men stand up well to each other, giving and taking.
1868. G. Duff, Pol. Surv., 132. He has been elected after a very stiff contest.
1916. J. Buchan, Hist. War, IX. lxx. 161. To withdraw through that area meant a stiff holding battle around Brest.
9. Formal, constrained, lacking ease or grace.
a. Of bearing, manners, etc.: Unbending (expressing pride, coldness, displeasure, awkwardness, and the like); not easy or gracious; haughty.
1608. Middleton, Mad World, I. A 3. He … thinkes himselfe neuer happier then when some stiffe L. or great Countesse alights, to make light his dishes.
1613. Wotton, Reliq. (1672), 409. It is conceived that the King hath a good while been much distasted with the said Gentleman … for too stiff a carriage of his fortune.
1754. Chatham, Lett. to Nephew, v. 36. Ceremonious, formal compliments, stiff civilities, will never be politeness.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxix. The knight … thanked him with the stiff condescension of the court of Elizabeth.
1831. Society, I. 196. Lord Glamorgan was stiff and cold in his manner to strangers.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, v. 57. The stiff respectabilities … of an English country neighbourhood.
b. Of style, diction, etc.: Lacking ease and grace; labored, formal, pedantic.
1664. Dryden, Riv. Ladies, Prol. 20. Though his Plot’s dull as can be well desir’d, Wit stiff as any you have e’r admir’d.
1710. Felton, Diss. Classics (1718), 114. Too scrupulous an Observation of Rules spoileth all sorts of Writings: It maketh them Stiff and Formal.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 247. He had enjoyed high fame as an orator, though his diction … was, towards the close of his life, pronounced stiff and pedantic.
1898. Gosse, Short Hist. Mod. Eng. Lit., vii. 238. A mass of stiff blank verse.
c. Of artistic form or arrangement: Excessively regular; lacking grace of line.
1779. Mirror, No. 61. 203. In his grounds you find stiff, rectangular walks.
1813. Sarah Lady Lyttelton, Corr. (1912), 160. I cannot accustom myself at all to the foreign stiff way of furnishing the rooms.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 23. It was replaced by a similar stiff structure.
1912. J. L. Myres, Dawn of Hist., viii. 175. A limited stock of stiff geometrical designs.
d. Of handwriting: Lacking ease and freedom; not flowing. Cf. sense 2.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xlviii. The manuscript was a fair Italian hand, though something stiff and constrained.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, viii. Several letters were brought to him, one, directed in a stiff, careful, unknown hand.
10. Of price, charges, rates, etc.: Unyielding, firm; having an upward tendency. Hence of a commodity or the dealers in it. Cf. 19.
1883. Manch. Exam., 14 Dec., 4/1. For three month’s bills the terms were firm at 25/8 per cent, but for January paper the rate was stiffer.
1886. Cheshire Gloss., s.v., A butcher will tell you ‘You’re very stiff this morning’ if you will not come down at all in the price of a beast.
1888. Daily News, 5 Nov., 7/2. Buyers … find sellers stiff. Ibid. (1893), 14 July, 3/7. The latest reports from London show that merinos are a little stiffer.
11. Colloquial phrases. Stiff as a poker; stiff in the back, firm, resolute; to keep (carry, have) a stiff upper lip, to be firm, unyielding.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, Mourtray Fam., II. 251. Lady Elizabeth, as stiff as a poker, sat with her mouth pursed up, vexed to death.
1837. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. I. x. 77. Its a proper pity sich a clever woman should carry such a stiff upper lip.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., x. ‘Well, good-by, Uncle Tom; keep a stiff upper lip,’ said George.
1887. Spectator, 17 Sept., 1241. The Financial Secretary, who, it is supposed, will have a stiff upper lip and tightly buttoned pockets.
1894. Du Maurier, Trilby, V. 275. Each walked off … stiff as pokers.
1897. ‘A. Hope,’ Phroso, iv. 75. ‘Are you going to let him off?’ demanded Denny, suspiciously. ‘You never can be stiff in the back, Charley.’
II. Strong.
12. Of living creatures: Stout, stalwart, sturdy (cf. sense 8); esp. in alliterative phrases as † stiff in stour, † stiff on steed. Obs. exc. dial. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7732. So stif mon he was in armes, in ssoldren, & in leade, Þat vnneþe enimon miȝte is bowe bende.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2203. Nembrot … o babilon king stijf in stur.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 255. Þe styfest, þe stalworþest þat stod euer on fete.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 1270. The knyght was faire and styf in stour.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 19. He was doughty of dede, A styffe body one a stede.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1494. It were two dragons stiff and strong.
1544. Betham, Precepts War, I. xxxiii. C iv. Kepe thyne armye in rough and mountayne places, to make theyr bodies styffe and stronge.
a. 1677. Barrow, Wks. (1686), III. Serm. xvi. 188. But in stout proficients the heart becometh hard and stony, the neck stiff and brawny.
† b. Of a drinker: ‘Hard.’ Obs.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 27. The Sweitzers are for the most part Souldiers, and stiffe drinkers.
1632. Lyly’s Mother Bombie, II. i. Song, We already are stiffe Drinkers.
[1635. Heywood, Philocoth., 44. To title a drunkard by, wee … strive to character him in a more mincing and modest phrase, as thus: He is a good fellow Or, A boone companion,… A stiffe Blade.]
† 13. Of things inanimate: Strong; stoutly built; massive. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1527. The styfe towne to Restore … [Priam] Gate masons full mony.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 2899. Ther stode a Castel a litel ther-by, Gret, and stiff, and ful strong.
c. 1440. York Myst., XXIX. 268. Our stiffe tempill, þat made is of stone.
† b. Of a weapon: Hard, stout, formidable. Obs.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 78. Þi bile is stif & sarp & hoked.
13[?]. K. Alis., 2740 (Laud MS.). He groep on honde a styff spere.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IX. 1649. With a styff suerd to dede he has him dycht.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. i. 167. Make you ready your stiffe bats and clubs.
14. Of natural agencies.
a. Strong, violent (of wind); also applied to a steady wind of moderate force.
c. 1290. Brendan, 464, in S. Eng. Leg., 232. Þe wynd was boþe strong and stif.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 487. Stiue stormus of þe wind stiren vp þe wawus.
c. 1425. Noah’s Ark, in Non-Cycle Myst. Plays, 19. All mankind dead shall be With storms both stiff and steer.
c. 1565. Jenkinson, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), I. 345. The winde being contrary, and a stiffe gale.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. i. 72. Such a noyse arose, As the shrowdes make at Sea, in a stiffe Tempest.
1665. G. Havers, P. della Valle’s Trav. E. India, 2. We again spread our sails freely to the wind, which was pretty stiff.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 483. When the stiffer gales Rise on the poop, and fully stretch the sails.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 130. A fresh breeze, implies a wind in which a vessel may safely carry all her canvass; a stiff breeze, implies one somewhat stronger than this, but not so violent as a gale.
in fig. context. 1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 104. Many a styff storme with-stode ffor þe comunes.
1663. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., i. 4. The gale proves so stiff, that our hearts are swelled therewith.
† b. Of a river: Flowing strongly. Obs.
13[?]. K. Alis., 3482 (Laud MS.). Þe water was wel styf & colde.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 234. Styffe stremes & streȝt hem strayned a whyle.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 115. From an hill … Cam doun the streme ful stif and bold.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 2589. Þai saȝe þe streme so stife, it stonaid þam all.
† c. Of news: Formidable, grave. Obs.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 104. Labienus (this is stiffe-newes), Hath with his Parthian Force Extended Asia.
† 15. Of voice, sound: Powerful, loud. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 584. [Christ] With styf voys hym called, Lazare, veni foras.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 673. This Somonour bar to hym a stif burdoun Was neuere trompe of half so greet a soun.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 611. His steuyn stiffe was & steryn þat stonayd many.
16. In modern use, of liquors: Strong, potent. Now only of spirits-and-water.
1813. Sporting Mag., XLII. 131. Mr. Jenkins … to the last ‘belted’ his three bottles of stiff port after dinner.
1842. Tennyson, Will Waterproof, 78. But tho’ the port surpasses praise, My nerves have dealt with stiffer.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., xix. Each had a good stiff glass of brandy grog.
III. Hard, difficult.
17. Of an ascent or descent: Steep so as to be difficult. In Hunting: Difficult (said of an obstacle or a tract of country presenting many obstacles).
1704. Churchill’s Collect. Voy. & Trav., III. 81/1. I have seen them run up the stiffest and streightest Hills.
1715. Leoni’s Palladio’s Archit. (1721), I. 54. The Roof would be too stiff [Ital. troppo ratta].
1817. Sporting Mag., L. 38. The ground gone over was through a stiff country.
1853. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour, xxiii. 124. His lordship charged a stiff Right of rails in the brick-fields.
1883. C. Howard, Roads Eng. & Wales (ed. 3), 139. Easy going to Braunston,… into which there is a long stiff descent.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 571/1. Owing to the world being on a stiff slant hereabouts, it takes time to make it stand straight.
1903. M. A. Stein, Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan, xiv. (1904), 224. The next day’s climb proved a stiff one.
18. That requires considerable effort; severe; laborious, toilsome.
1862. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XIII. ii. III. 414. They are dreadfully stiff reading, those Despatches of Hyndford.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. i. Your working days must be stiff ’uns if these is your holidays.
1886. Stubbs, Lect. Med. & Mod. Hist., ii. 31. More modest men … passed a stiff examination in the History School.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xix. He encouraged him to digest a certain daily quantity of ‘stiff’ or improving literature.
1898. Daily News, 22 July, 8/2. What do you call a stiff pace on a level road?
19. Of a price, charge, demand, etc.: Unusually high, excessive. Cf. sense 10.
1824. Dibdin, Libr. Companion (1825), 730, note. The Denham of 1709 brought the stiff sum of 1l. 1s. … but the Donne … produced … the far stiffer price of 4l. 4s.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, i. The figure was stiff; but the signature was good for more than that, if it was only genuine.
1903. A. C. P. Haggard, Sport. Yarns, 225. He naturally thought 3s. an hour pretty stiff boat hire.
IV. 20. Comb. and special collocations.
a. Special collocations with sbs.: stiff-bit, stiff field (see quots.); stiff sea-adder, a provincial name of the fish Nerophis ophidion.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stiff-bit, a bit without a joint, like a snaffle; or branches, like a curb-bit.
1883. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., II. 263. Stiff sea-adder.
1910. N. Hawkins’ Electr. Dict., Stiff Field.—A term sometimes applied to an intense electromagnetic field.
b. Collocations forming phrases used attrib., as stiff-arm, -clay, -land, -mud, -plate.
1778. [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., Observ., 24. I will not manure a stiff-land Meadow in winter.
1884. C. T. Davis, Bricks, Tiles, etc. (1889), 184. Stiff-clay bricks, or stiff-mud bricks as they are generally termed.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 7 March, 11/1. The boiler in English locomotives is invariably carried on a stiff-plate frame. Ibid. (1909), 25 Aug., 4/2. It … is a sort of stiff-arm punch which returns the ball very close to the net.
c. Combinations with sbs.: † stiffgut, a glutton; stiff-leaf Arch., the term applied to the foliage of conventional form, with stiff leaf-stems, characteristic as a decoration in the Early English style; † stiffrump slang, an obstinate or haughty person; stiff-stalk (see quot.); † stiff-stander, one who makes an obstinate stand (for).
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Gt. Eater of Kent, Ded. 2. Though you are the absolutest man of mouth and the most renowned *stifgut in this westerne angle of the world, yet we haue as great or greater eaters then your selfe.
1851. T. H. Turner, Dom. Archit., I. ii. 39. The shafts in the jambs have round capitals with foliage approaching to what is technically called *stiff-leaf.
1709. Steele & Addison, Tatler, No. 110, ¶ 4. Ha! Is that thy Wisdom, old *Stiffrump, ha?
1884. W. Miller, Plant-n., 130. Mexican *Stiff-stalk, Rigidella flammea.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. III. iii. 5. O You *stiff-standers for ag’d Ptolemee.
d. Parasynthetic adjs., as stiff-backed, -bodied, -boned, † -hearted, -kneed, -leathered, -leaved, -lipped, † -minded, † -witted, etc.; † stiff-docked, strong in the hind quarters; † stiff-rumped fig., unbending, obstinate, proud; † stiff-stomached, hard-hearted; † stiff streamed, having a strong current.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xx. The *stiff-backed prig, with his dandified airs and West End swagger.
1697. J. Lewis, Mem. Dk. Glocester (1789), 11. His *stiff-bodied coats were very troublesome to him in his military amusements.
1727. Mrs. Delany, Life & Corr. (1861), I. 138. They were draped in stiff-bodied gowns of silver tissue.
1896. Mrs. Caffyn, Quaker Grandmother, 198. We’re not *stiff-boned, stubborn things like men folk.
1898. Mrs. Woods, in 19th Cent., XLIV. 1000. This *stiff-collared hypocrite of a young Briton.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 74. The .iiii. properties of a lyon. The fyrste is, to haue a brode breste; the seconde, to be *styffe-docked. Ibid., § 76. The .ix. propertyes of an hare. The fyrste is *styffe-eared.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 82. The sone quhilk was inobedient, *stifhartit and thrawart to his father and mother.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Ezek. ii. 4. Thei are impudent children, and stiffe hearted.
1804. W. Blake, in A. G. B. Russell, Lett. (1906), 156. My good woman … is still *stiff-kneed but well in other respects.
1576. Newton, Lemnie’s Complex., I. ix. 74. As hard and *styffe-leathered bootes yt haue lyen long vnoccupyed.
1822. Hortus Anglicus, II. 396. Aster Rigidus. *Stiff-leaved Star Wort.
1896. Tablet, 23 May, 801. A little cowardice, or complacency to *stiff-lipped colleagues, and the old inequality will be perpetuated.
1552. Huloet, *Stiffe minded or of courage, infractus animi.
1910. Spectator, 5 Nov., 740/2. They are too stiff-minded.
1835. Whewell, Archit. Notes (1842), 291. *Stiff-pointed curled tufts of foliage.
1715. Phil. Trans., XXIX. 233. *Stif-rim’d Mary-gold.
1728. Somerville, Epist. to Ramsay, I. 91. Self-conceit, and *stiff-rumpt Pride.
1812. Colman, Br. Grins, Knt. & Friar, I. xxx. The stiff-rumped rascals [the friars] looked so sanctified.
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, V. ii. Y iij. He that is so *styffe stomaked, or so harde harted.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IX. 380. The *stiffe stream’d Dolf.
c. 1875. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 195. The last group of the Wild-fowl contains the *Stiff-tailed Ducks, which are recognisable by their extremely rigid tail-feathers.
1616. T. Scot, Philomythie, etc. K 8. Where the *stiffe-vdder’d Cow long’d twice a day, To meet the merry milke-maide on the way.
1599. Sandys, Europæ Spec. (1632), 75. Much like to a stout-hearted and *stiff-witted Captaine, who scornes to imitate any stratageme before used by the enemy.
B. sb.
† 1. Some stiffened article of female attire. Obs.
1680. Will of Frances Dobson, in Bedfordsh. N. & Q. (1889), II. 237. I give to my seruant … all my working day clothes of wollen or stuffe, and also 3 of my strongest stiffs and aprons.
2. slang. Paper; a document, esp. a promissory note or bill of exchange; a clandestine letter.
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulgar T., s.v., Giving a bill instead of money is denominated, in the mercantile world, taking ‘the stiff.’
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, vi. I wish you’d do me a bit of stiff.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Feb., 4/3. The ‘stiff,’ as a note is called in convict parlance.
1892. M. Williams, Round London (1893), 62. A hawker’s licence, which is known among the [London] brotherhood as a ‘stiff.’
1904. A. Griffiths, 50 Yrs. Public Service, 152. Other ‘stiffs’—the prison term for anonymous or clandestine letters—were scattered about.
Comb. 1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, 166. Stiff-dealer, a dealer in stiff, a pseudo-merchant, or trader in moonshine paper.
3. slang. A corpse (= stiff ’un, A. 2 b).
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 450.
1871. Hay, Myst. Gilgal, 41. They piled the stills outside the door.
1915. Morn. Post, 7 Aug., 5/4. ‘This cigarette is all right,’ I said. ‘Where do they come from?’ ‘Off that German stiff,’ he answered.
4. slang. A penniless man; a wastrel.
1899. Daily Chron., 10 Aug., 5/7. ‘Stiffs,’ that is, men who work their passage by attending to cattle.
1909. Daily Mail, 10 Aug., 4/5. England knows the tramp and the loafer,… but greater than these is the Johannesburg ‘stiff.’
C. adv. or quasi-adv.
1. Stiffly, firmly, tightly, hard, etc. Phrase, To give it to someone (pretty) stiff: to speak severely to, to rate.
1423. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 174. The course of the ryuer So stronge and So styfe rane.
c. 1450. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 133. Þe werlde, my flesch, þe fende, felly þai me besale both strange & styfe.
1525. trans. Brunswyke’s Handywork Surg., lxxiii. P iij b. Take hede that ye bynde hym not to styfe.
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., x. 182. This piece of wood is fitted stiff into a square Hole.
1712. J. James, Gardening, 81. [This] makes the Joint go stiffer, or slacker, at Pleasure.
1880. J. Payn, Confid. Agent, xliii. Giving it to her … pretty stiff.
2. In comb. with ppl. adjs. a. Rigidly, tightly, obstinately, etc., as † stiff-holden, -rustling, -swathed. b. So as to be stiff, in varions senses, as stiff-bent, -built, -dressed, etc. c. † stiff-borne, obstinately pursued; † stiff-girt, fig. inflexible, obstinate; † stiff-thrown, thrown with great force.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, III. 45. With bow *stifbent, and with quiuer, and many a shaft therein.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, II. App. xxxviii. Sent out from bow stiff-bent with even string.
1624. Quarles, Job Militant, iii. His *stiffe-bolting haire: (Not much vnlike the pennes of Porcupines).
1598. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. i. 177. None of this (Though strongly apprehended) could restraine The *stiffe-borne Action.
1861. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, III. 272. Some vessels are so *stiff-built, that they can discharge the whole of their cargo without taking in any ballast at all.
1886. Daily News, 13 Oct., 2/6. *Stiff-dressed nets are still dull of sale.
1659. Gauden, Tears Ch., II. xxx. 246. He, *stiffe-girt and inexorable, went with a short turn out of the Church.
1596. Edw. III., III. iii. 129. Like *stiffe growen oakes [they] will stand immouable, When whirle wind quickly turnes vp yonger trese.
a. 1533. Frith, Disp. Purgat., II. K j b. An heresye is a *styffe holden opinion repugnaunte vnto scrypture.
1818. Keats, Endym., II. 9. Stiff-holden shields, far-piercing spears, keen blades.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. I. Vocation, 538. A gagged Usher that doth never wear *Stif-rustling silks.
1828. Miss Mitford, Village, III. 32. A woman … *stiff-starched and strait-laced.
1657. W. Rand, trans. Gassendi’s Life Peiresc, II. 224. A great *stiff-stretched swelling arose upon the Region of his Bladder.
1666. Dryden, Ann. Mirab., cxxi. The Dutch … Whose Navy like a stiff-stretch’d cord did show, Till he bore in, and bent them into flight.
1608. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. IV. Decay, 795. A *stiff-throw’n Bowl, which running down a Hill, Meets in the way some stub.
