a. Obs. [prob. for *stiffened-bodied, ‘having a stiffened body’; see STIFFENED ppl. a.] Having the body (see BODY sb. 6) stiffened with whalebone, etc. (said of a garment).
1706. [E. Ward], Hudibras Rediv. (Nares s.v. Steeple-crown), The good old dames … Were all most primitively drest In stiffen-body’d russet gowns.
1748. Lady Luxborough, Lett. to Shenstone (1775), 12. The stiffen-bodied gown would not add charms … to a beautiful woman.
