Forms: 4–5 stoff, 6 stof, 4–7 stuffe, 5–7 stuf, 4– stuff. [a. OF. estoffer (NE. dial. stoffeir: Anglo-Latin stuffare) to furnish, equip, garrison (mod.F. étoffer, to furnish with what is necessary, to supply material for) = Sp. estofar, to embroider in relief, Pg. estofar, to embroider, to quilt, to stuff (cushions, meat):—Rom. *stoffare: for the ulterior etymology see STUFF sb.1]
† 1. trans. To furnish (a fortified town, stronghold, an army, a commander, etc.) with men, munitions and stores; to garrison (a town). Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., P. 1184. For þe borȝ was so bygge baytayled alofte, & stoffed wyth-inne with stout men to stalle hem þer-oute.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 213. The king … vald nocht brek doune the vall, Bot castell, and the toune with-all, Stuff weill with men and with vittaill And alkynd othir apparaill. Ibid., 350. Wardis … That war stuffit richt stalwardly With stanys, schot, and other thing.
1444. Rolls of Parlt., V. 74/1. Also to stuffe the Castelles, Tounes, and alle maner Forteresses.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. i. 35. The kyng … badde hym be redy and stuffe hym and garnysshe hym, for within xl dayes he wold fetche hym oute of the byggest castell that he hath.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. iv. 4. The Troianis … All thar deray beheld … And baith wyth armour and with wappynnis brycht The tour hedis thai stuffit all that nyght. Ibid., XI. ix. 51. A party of the cietezanis, he said, Do stuf the entreis, and the portis defend.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 314. He passit to Athell, And stuffit hes ilk castell that wes strang With men and meit.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xvi. § 10. 653. S. Iean, a Towne of Normandy … which Edmund Duke of Somerset … had lately fortified and stuft with souldiers.
1640. Yorke, Union Hon., Battles. 11. Hertford Castle … like wise the Castle of Berkhampsteade, both which he stuffed with French Garrisons.
† b. To furnish (troops) with support; to reinforce; to support, aid (a war). To stuff a chase (Sc.), to provide men for, organize a pursuit. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8284. Menelay with his men meuyt in swithe,… Restorit hom stithly, stuffit hom anon.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 277. To stuff the chas feyll frekis folowit fast. Ibid., V. 935, X. 268.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. ii. 89. Gif I evir into that weyr Minysterit dartis, wapynnys, or sic geyr? Or ȝit that bargane stuffyt or bet,… With Cupidis blynd lust and subtilite? Than had bene [etc.].
1533. Bellenden, Livy (S.T.S.), II. 77. To stuffe þis army … war ekit þe auld centurions.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 170. Tha tuke haill purpois in that samin place, Efter king Edward for to stuffe ane chace.
c. 1560. Rolland, Seven Sages (Bann. Club), 203. Ane Empreour … Quha had greit Kings into his companie,… Doing seruice … Sum for pastime and sum to stuf his weir.
† c. To marshal (troops). Obs.
a. 1375. Joseph Arim., 601. Þe stiward of Tholomer stoffes hem to-gedere, and seis, [etc.].
† 2. To supply or furnish (a person) with arms, provisions, money, etc. Const. of, with. Obs.
c. 1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 47. Off tresour so stuffit is he, That he may vageowris haf plente.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, I. x. (Skeat), 44. If thou laudest and joyest any wight, for he is stuffed with soche maner richesse, thou art in that beleeve begyled.
14[?]. Sc. Acts Robt. I. (1844), I. 468/2. Ilk lord sal cum stuffyt & purvayt [L. stuffatus] to þe ost of caryage and vyttalis as he wil be servyt.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IX. xxxviii. (1554), 217. I, not expert, nor stuffed with language.
1432. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 410/1. The merchantes strangiers been stuffed so gretely therwith.
c. 1475. Partenay, 6378. Thys lady … To all other lades exemplair, Well stuffed with all maner of goodnesse.
1551. Edw. VI., Jrnl. (Roxb. Club), II. 327. Then, that she shuld be brought at her father’s charge three monthes before she was twelf, sufficiently juelled and stuffed.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. v. 183. A Gentleman … Stuft as they say with Honourable parts.
1656. Burton’s Diary (1828), I. 198. This day hath brought you work enough for half a year, and another day will stuff you sufficiently.
† b. To arm and equip (a soldier). Alliterative phrase, stuffed in steel. Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1932. Whene any stirttez to stale, stuffe þame þe bettere, Ore thei wille be stonayede, and stroyede in ȝone strayte londez.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., 391. In stele was he stuffede, þat stourne vppone stede.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 266. Befor him come feyll stufyt in lyne steill. Ibid., X. 22. The Sotheroun was rycht douchty in thair deid, To gydder straik, weyll stuffyt in steyll weid.
a. 1483. Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 17. Every man stuffed and renned [sic] at the Kinges costes of suche defence as he coude best deale withall.
† 3. To furnish (a place) with accessories, stock, inhabitants; to store with provisions, etc. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 208. Houses of office stuffed with plentee.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 7065. So that the tour were stuffed wel With alle richesse temporel.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IV. ix. (1554), 107. In a caue … he made him to be throu, The place stuffed with good barking houndes.
1449. Sc. Acts Jas. II. (1814), II. 36/2. Gif ony man … resettis ony þat ar conuict of tresone … or þat stuffis the housis of þaim þat ar conuict of tresone … [they] sal be punyst as tratouris.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxiii. 148. They fledde away … and left their houses well stuffed, and graunges full of corne.
1530. Palsgr., 742/1. I stuffe, or store a grounde with thynges that growe and encrease, je peuple.
1546. Supplic. Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.), 79. Bringyng them [sc. children] vp other to bear wallettes, other eles, if thei be sturdy, to stuffe prisons, and garnysh galow trees.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent, 168. This Weald … was … not planted with Townes,… but stoared and stuffed with heardes of Deare.
1598. Barckley, Felic. Man, II. 101. Hee buildeth his house with his sonnes money,… and stuffeth it handsomely.
1603–26. Breton, Poste Mad Lett. (Grosart), 42/1. Whose seruants better gouerned? whose house better stuffed and maintained?
† b. To store (goods) in a receptacle or place; to keep (flocks) in a place. Obs.
1567. Bauldwin’s Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), III. (1600), 58. Princes liue more surely with the gathering to them men of good lining & conuersation, then with treasures of mony stuffed in their chestes.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 352. In Iuory cofers I haue stuft my crownes.
1605. First Pt. Jeronimo, I. iii. 22. Farmers that crack barns With stuffing corne, yet starue the needy swarmes.
1606. Nottingham Rec., IV. 290. No person shall att any tyme hencefurthe stuffe, hould, or keepe any sheepe in or vpon any the sayd highwayes.
† 4. To line (a helmet, a garment) with cloth, etc. Obs.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 66. Þe helme … Þat was stapled stifly, & stoffed wyth-inne.
c. 1400. Sege Jerus. (E.E.T.S.), 422. Was noȝt, while þe nyȝt laste, bot nehyng of stedis, Strogelyng in stele wede & stuffyng of helmes.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 735. Thai stuffit helmys in hy, Breist-plait and birny.
1473–4. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 16. Gret braid clath to stuf ij doublatis to the King. Ibid. (1552), X. 70. Item, ane elne of quhite bukrame to stuff the hude and slevis.
1590. Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, 46. Deepe steele skulles in very narrowe brimbd hats, well stuffed for the easines of their heades.
5. To line or fill with some material as a padding; to distend or expand with padding; esp. to fill (a bedtick, cushion, etc.) with packing in order to furnish a yielding support. Also with out, up.
c. 1450. Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.), 241. Cadace wolle or flokkys,… To stuffe withal thi dobbelet, and make the of proporcyon.
1480. Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV. (1830), 125. For making and stuffing of a sadelle. Ibid., 130. Federbeddes stuffed with downe.
1494. Act 1 Hen. VII., c. 19. Quyltes mattres and cussions stuffed with horse here.
1530. Palsgr., 741/2. I stuffe a tycke of a bedde with fethers, je emplume.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. v. 87. Giue me your Doublet, and stuffe me out with Straw.
1644. Bp. Hall, Serm., 21 July, Rem. Wks. (1660), 135. Many a one … hath found nothing but an image of clouts laid upon a bolster stuffed with Goats hair.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 4 Dec. 1679. The bound is made so exactly even, and the edges [of a billiard-table] not stuff’d.
1700. Dryden, Baucis & Ph., 47. Two Cushions stuff’d with Straw, the Seat to raise.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1823), V. 140. Many of these [Plato’s scholars] found it easier to imitate Plato’s shoulders than his philosophy, and to stuff out their gowns than to furnish their understandings.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 674. For there [sc. in the theatre] some noble lord Shall stuff his shoulders with king Richard’s bunch.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., xiv. Horsemen … in a sort of defensive armour, consisting of rich silk dresses, rendered sabre proof by being stuffed with cotton.
1839. J. W. Burgon, Gresham, I. iii. 210. His breeches, which were stuffed out with cotton, were more useful than ornamental.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, i. He had lingered on, chewing in his agony the tow with which his mattress was stuffed.
1908. Animal Management (Vet. Departm., War Office), 210. To stuff a collar under these circumstances means that it is too tight when the horse puts up muscle.
transf. and fig. 1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Love Unknown, 48. I found that some had stuff’d the bed with thoughts, I would say, thorns.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. vi. 22. A considerable part of Ancient times, was by the Greeks themselves termed μύθικον, that is made up or stuffed out with fables.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 122. Lying words of miracles, wherewith they stuffe up a whole houres preaching.
1699. Bentley, Phalaris, 296. His other Citations, with which his Margin is plentifully stuft out.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 105. No need, he cries, of gravity stuff’d out With academic dignity devout, To read wise lectures, vanity the text.
b. Of material: To serve as padding or stuffing.
c. 1530. in Archæologia, XXV. 503. For vj lb. of flock for to stuff cusshonys iiij d.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. ii. 47. The Barbers man hath beene seen with him, and the olde ornament of his cheeke hath alreadie stuft tennis balls. Ibid. (1607), Cor., II. i. 98. Your Beards deserue not so honourable a graue, as to stuffe a Botchers Cushion.
† c. To distend, expand (as if by padding). Obs.
1595. Shaks., John, III. iv. 97. Greefe fils the roome vp of my absent childe:… Stuffes out his vacant garments with his forme.
1605. Hist. Capt. Stukeley, I 3. The ioyfull breath that issues from thy lips, Comes like a lusty gale to stuffe our sailes.
1631. Fuller, David’s Sin, III. xxx. (1867), 238. Their very sighs might serve to stuff the sail.
1678. T. P[orter], Fr. Conjurer, I. 4. Let his Breeches be made straight and stufft with Whalebone, to reduce his Limbs into a Spanish Posture.
† d. To convert (into something) by stuffing. Obs. (? nonce-use).
1724. Swift, Drapier’s Lett., v. (1730), 176. I have read … of an Eastern King who put a Judge to Death for an iniquitous Sentence, and order’d his Hide to be stuffed into a Cushion.
6. Cookery. To fill (the inside of a bird or animal, a piece of meat, etc.) with forcemeat, herbs, etc., as a stuffing.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., I. 32. Fyrste Stuffe þin chekons in þis wyse. Ibid., 40. Þan stuffe hem as þou stuffyst a Pigge.
1530. Palsgr., 741/2. I stuffe a podyng or suche lyke, je farce.
1570. in Gutch, Collect. Cur. (1781), II. 6. For a lege of mutton to be boyled and stored with parshleye … viij d.
1591. A. W., Bk. Cookrye, 12. To make puddings of a Swine … take the guts clean washed, and stuffe them with the aforesaid stuffe.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iv. 101. As shee went to the Garden for Parseley to stuffe a Rabit.
1623. Middleton, More Dissemblers, IV. i. 154. I would they [the ducks] were all rotten rosted, and stuft with Onions.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, ii. 26. To Stuff a Leg or Shoulder of Mutton. Ibid., 36. Take a Turky or Fowl, stuff the Breast with what Force-Meat you like.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 255. Stuff the rabbits and roast them.
1855. [Philp], Pract. Housewife, 108. Tomatas, to stuff.—Take some fine tomatas and scoop the inside out, [etc.].
7. To fill out (the skin of a beast, bird, etc.) with material so as to resemble the living creature; spec. in Taxidermy, to fill the skin of (a bird or beast) with materials to preserve it and present it in its natural form.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 261. He causes them [sc. rebels] to be slene…: Then to bee stuffed with chaffe, and sette vppe.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. i. 43. And in his needie shop a Tortoyrs hung, An Allegater stuft.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 163. The Cowes … will give no Milke till the skinne of the Calfe bee stuffed and set before them.
1727. [E. Dorrington], Philip Quarll (1816), 66. They carried away … the fine bird he had taken such pains to stuff.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxx. Many birds have flown as high, that I have seen stuffed with straw, and hung up to scare kites.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. vii. I was down at the water-side, looking for parrots brought home by sailors, to buy for stuffing.
1915. F. Legge, Forerunners of Christianity, II. xiii. 281. He [Manes] was decapitated, and his skin stuffed with straw was suspended at the gate of the town.
8. To fill (a receptacle); esp. to fill by packing the materials closely together, to cram full. To stuff out: to fill a receptacle so full that it bulges; to distend with filling.
c. 1440. Lydg., Hors, Shepe & G., 616. When deth approchyth … The riche is shet with coloures & picture To hide his careyn stuffid with fowle ordure.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, iv. (1570), C vj. Some mery fit … Of perte of Norwiche,… Or buckishe Ioly well stuffed as a ton.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. ii. 146. If you will go, I will stuffe your Purses full of Crownes.
1613. J. Taylor (Water P.), Laugh & be Fat, Wks. (1630), II. 73/1. For as a candle’s stuft with cotton weeke, So thou art cramm’d vp to the brim with Greeke.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. v. 87. So a glasse stuffed with peeces of spunge.
1675. Hobbes, Odyss., VIII. (1686), 98. The Horse of Wood … Stufft by Ulysses full of Warriours good.
1705. [E. Ward], Hudibras Rediv., II. 11. In’s Hand a Wallet stuff’d with Papers.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., x. I. 84. At another time she imagined her daughter’s pockets filled with farthings, a certain sign of their being one day stuffed with gold.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 310. But when unpack’d your disappointment groans To find it [a parcel] stuff’d with brickbats, earth, and stones.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., ii. His pockets stuffed out with bank-notes.
1830–60. O. W. Holmes, Dorchester Giant, iv. Then he brought them a pudding stuffed with plums.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xi. As soon as Fortune stuffs your mouth full of sweetmeats, do you turn informer on her?
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 855. The thickening of the hair is due to its being stuffed with fungus.
1904. B’ness von Hutten, Pam, I. iii. ‘Well, Jane, and so here we are,’ he began, stuffing his little meerschaum pipe from a leather bag.
b. Said of the filling material. ? Obs.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 25. The crustaceous Cornea of the Creckets Eye, which I have carefully separated from all the matter which stuff’d it within.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, II. 26. With inward Arms the dire Machine they load, And Iron Bowels stuff the dark Abode.
c. To crowd, cram (a vehicle, room with persons). Also intr. for pass. To be crammed. Now rare.
1571. in Hudson & Tingey, Rec. Norwich (1910), II. 345. The victualling houses were stuffed with players and dronkerdes.
1799. Sir M. Hunter, Jrnl., 27 Feb. (1894), 138. On the wedding-day we assembled at ten o’clock, Jews and Christians; the room as full as it could stuff.
1829. C. Rose, Four Yrs. S. Africa, 10. The long heavy waggon … hired for the day, and stuffed with black damsels.
d. U.S. ‘To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot-box)’ (W., 1911).
1856. Empire County Argus, 10 May, 2/3. When a town like Placerville plunges itself into debt to obtain money to bribe men to stuff ballot boxes.
1872. Schele De Vere, Americanisms, 272.
1906. Q. Rev., July, 283. The interval had been devoted to stuffing the ballot-boxes.
9. fig. a. To fill, crowd (speech, etc.) with something (usually something objectionable).
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., II. (Arb.), 112. Som man … is ouer full of words, sentences, and matter, and yet all his words be proper…. His whole matter grownded vpon good reason, and stuffed with full arguments.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 126. It shall not neede to stuffe my letter with particularities.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 134. I will not looke vpon your Masters lines. I know they are stuft with protestations, And full of new-found oathes.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 270. Stuffed hee [Nennius] hath that little booke with many a pretty lie.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 11. Those accusations … are commonly stuffed with many odious generals, that the proofs seldom make good.
1682. Dryden, Medal, Ep. Whigs, Your Seditious Pamphlets are stuff’d with particular Reflexions on him.
1707. Hearne, Collect., 22 April (O.H.S.), II. 8. His Discourse was stuff’d with Anglicisms.
1768. Walpole, Hist. Doubts, 123. John Rous … is an author to whom no credit is due, from the lies and fables with which his work is stuffed.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, III. i. 35. The absurdities, with which … a bill of indictment is frequently stuffed.
1876. F. Harrison, Choice of Bks., iv. (1886), 84. A book stuffed with curious facts.
b. To fill (a person, his mind, heart, etc.) with ideas, feelings, etc. Also with up.
1531. Tindale, Expos. 1 John (1537), 77. They be so full stuffed wyth lyes, that they can receaue nothyng els.
c. 1550. Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 234. I see well … by the sighes that thou outthrowest, That thou art stuffed full of wo.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., II. xii. 47 b. Fortune … stuffed the hearte of the Athenians with … insatiable ambition.
1587. Turberv., Trag. T., 74. The Queene perceiuing this In mockage to be ment Of Alboyne … Was stuft with raging rancour streight.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. ii. 133. Do not seeke to stuffe My head with more ill newes: for it is full.
1611. W. Trumball, Lett., 17 Feb., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 563. These Provinces are no lesse stuffed with the unlikely newes of the King of Spaine’s inclination to matche with ye Lady Elizabeth then the Courte of Madrid.
1622. Fletcher, Span. Curate, IV. v. Pray ye buy Books,… You have a learned head, stuff it with Libraries.
1640. Fuller, etc. Abel Rediv., Cowper (1651), 562. These men were stuffed with such pride, self-conceit, disdain, and intolerable contempt, that [etc.].
1643. D. Rogers, Naaman, 110. They were stuft so full of their own skill and knowledge, that they scorned his simplicity.
1742. Pope, Dunciad, IV. 249. For thee we dim the eyes, and stuff the head With all such reading as was never read.
1876. Tennyson, Harold, II. ii. I have often talk’d with Wulfnoth, And stuff’d the boy with fears that these may act On Harold when they meet.
1876. F. Harrison, Choice of Bks., i. (1886), 2. Now, to stuff our minds with what is simply trivial, simply curious … this is to close our minds to what is solid and enlarging.
1889. J. K. Jerome, Three Men in Boat, 7. Don’t stuff up your head with things you don’t understand.
c. slang. To ‘cram,’ hoax, humbug (a person). Also with up.
1844. ‘J. Slick,’ High Life N. York, I. 113. I wonder if these leetle coots think I’m soft enough to believe that [etc.]…. They don’t stuff me up that way, any how, if I did come from the country.
1859. Hotten’s Slang Dict., 104. Stuff, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironically, to make game of a person,—literally to stuff him with gammon or falsehood.
1885. Harper’s Mag., April, 729–30. ‘That chatter-box Lenoir was joking,’ he said; ‘he was stuffing you to see how much you would both swallow.’
10. To fill (oneself, one’s stomach, etc.) to repletion with food. Also said of the food.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 4436. Ȝoure mawis ȝe fill, With bakin mete … Stuffis so ȝour stomake with stullis & of wynes.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 155. The ryche man sit stuffyd at his stable [read table]. The poore man stant hungry at the gate.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. xi. 91. Wines … wherof they do stuffe them selues so ful.
1600. Weakest goeth to Wall, B 2 b. O for one pot of mother Bunches Ale,… it would cleare my sight, comfort my heart, and stuffe my veines.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. i. 53. When we haue stufft These Pipes, and these Conueyances of our blood With Wine and Feeding, we haue suppler Soules Then in our Priest-like Fasts.
1657. Sparrow, Bk. Com. Prayer, 156. Aerius and his followers … rising early to fill themselves with flesh and wine with which being full stuft they … scoff at the Catholick Christians folly.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 601. Ravin … which here, though plenteous, all too little seems To stuff this Maw.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XI. xii. (1806), III. 197. He was prevailed upon, not only to stuff himself with their food, but to taste some of their liquors.
1800. Shelley, On a Cat, i. It waits for some dinner To stuff out its own little belly.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 1043. The latter [i.e., an Indian] … has so to stuff his stomach three or four times a day, that dilatation of that organ … must necessarily ensue.
1903. G. H. Lorimer, Lett. Self-Made Merch., xvii. 249. [He] Stuffed himself till his hide was stretched as tight as a sausage skin, and then howled for painkiller.
b. To cause (a patient) to eat to repletion. Also, to treat (a disease) by feeding up the patient.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 145. Stuffing the patient with sweetmeats and other delicacies is likewise very pernicious.
1849. Thoreau, Week on Concord, Wed. Writ. (1893), I. 338. Stuff a cold and starve a cold are but two ways.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 163. A cure was effected simply by stuffing them with food.
† c. To satiate, glut. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 741/2. I am as moche stuffed at the stomacke with the savour of this meate as if I had eaten a great meale: je suis autant assouuy en lestomac [etc.].
1603. Daniel, Def. Ryme, H 6 b. Those continuall cadences of couplets … runne on, with … a kinde of certaintie which stuffs the delight rather then intertaines it.
d. intr. for refl. To gorge oneself with food.
1726. Swift, To a Lady in Heroic Style, 132. Let them neither starve nor stuff.
1728. [De Foe], Street-Robberies Consider’d, 14. I … call’d for my Dinner, and stufft heartily.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 142. Gluttony stuffs till it pants, and unbuttons and stuffs again.
1794. J. Webster, Agric. Galloway, 16. They go to the plough at 6 in the morning, and return at 2 in the afternoon; when they begin to feed, (or stuff which is their phrase).
1797. Jane Austen, Sense & Sensib., xxx. And such a mulberry tree in one corner! Lord! how Charlotte and I did stuff the only time we were there!
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. I. Bagman’s Dog, 351. The Bagman bluff Continued to ‘stuff,’ Of the fat, and the lean, and the tender and tough.
e. trans. To gorge (food). Also with down.
1743. Mrs. E. Montagu, Corr. (1906), I. 142. Wishing many good things to a boy who was stuffing a luncheon of bread and butter.
1775. J. Jekyll, Corr. (1894), 24. At six they stuff bread and cakes and wine. Ibid. (1819), 80. Lord Yarmouth again takes … a large party of us in the Admiralty barge next week to stuff whitebait at the ‘Artichoke’ beyond Greenwich.
1908. G. K. Chesterton, Man who was Thursday, 169–70. They paused for a few minutes only to stuff down coffee and coarse thick sandwiches at a coffee stall.
11. To fill (an aperture, cavity, etc.) by thrusting something tightly in; hence, to stop up, to plug; † to stop (a tooth). Also of a material: To fill up so as to block (an aperture).
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. i. 44. Once more, the more to aggrauate the note, With a foule Traitors name stuffe I thy throte.
1683. Sir K. Digby’s Chym. Secrets, 139. The Ashes must be taken out … that they may not stuff up the place.
1724. Swift, Answ. to Dr. Delany, 39, Misc. 1735, V. 21. Which made my Grand-Dame always stuff-her-Ears.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxiv. I would rather … that my ears were stuffed with the earth of the grave than that they should again hear your voice!
1824. C. K. Sharpe, Corr. (1888), II. 323. Had I not been under the hands of … the dentist, touching a diabolical tooth, which cannot be stuffed, and I am sweer to pull.
1833. J. Rennie, Alph. Angling, 36. I found an old willow stump full of holes stuffed with clay.
1884. J. Gilmour, Mongols, vi. 91. The hero … stuffing the mouth of the hole with his white bonnet.
b. To fill up (a joint or other space) by cramming something in; spec. in Building, to fill in the inside (of a wall) with concrete or rubble. ? Obs.
1601. R. Johnson, Kingd. & Commw. (1603), 151. Commonly the wals of strong places are built of great beames stuffed with turffe or mosse, leauing loop-holes for their shot.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 46/1. Let them be … as broad as the Wall, that there may be no need to stuff the middle with rubbish. Ibid., 47/1. The Ancients made it a rule in stuffing their Walls, not to continue the stuffing uninterrupted to the heighth of above five foot.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 78. He treats largely of … filling (or stuffing as he calls it) the inside with small Stones, and Lime-liquid.
† 12. Of bodily humours: To clog, choke up (the body, its organs, vessels, etc.). Also with up. Obs.
c. 1530. Judic. Urines, III. ii. 48. Yf that parte of the hede be agreued & stuffed or stonyed, through euyll humours and fumosites. Ibid., III. vii. 51 b. Whan ye liuer is stopped & stuffed through mater of euyl humours.
1585. Lupton, Thous. Notable Things (1675), 180. Whosoever is stuffed in the Stomach with tough or hard flegm.
1618. Latham, 2nd Bk. Falconry, xxviii. 131. Whensoeuer you shall … haue such a Hawke that is any whit stuft in the head.
1657. J. Cooke, trans. J. Hall’s Sel. Observ. Engl. Bodies, 98. The stomach being stuffed and burdened with ill humors.
1710. Fuller, Pharmacopœia (1719), 98. It … stuffs up the loaded Bronchia with a fresh Income of Filth.
1750. J. Theobald, Medulla Med. Univ., 65. This Gargle … is to cleanse and scour the Glands of the Mouth from the Phlegmatic Matter, that stuffs and swells them.
† b. To cause stuffiness in (the head or nose).
1555. W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, II. i. 116. The plenty of swiete odours, and sauours in those quarters, doeth verely stuff ye smelling.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iv. 64. Beat. I am stuft cosin, I cannot smell.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, ii. 39. The more bitter it be drunken, the more it filleth and stuffeth the head.
13. To thrust (something, esp. loose materials) tightly into a receptacle or cavity. Also fig. Also with away, in.
1579. W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, 44 b. The Romanistes so cloyed the church with their fond festiuals, leud Legendes, and stuffed into the seruice of God such store of idle reuelations,… that [etc.].
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 365. Put them [the rose-leaves] into a Sweet Dry Earthen Bottle,… stuffing them close together.
1649. Milton, Tenure Kings (ed. 2), 57. They, in a cautious line or two here and there stuft in, are onely verbal against the pulling down or punishing of Tyrants.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, VI. i. (Rtldg.), 213. I bought these dresses, into which we may stuff an inquisitor, a notary, and an alguazil, and play the parts.
1854. Surtees, Handley Cr., v. (1901), I. 42. With hands stuffed into his front pockets.
1878. Chamb. Jrnl., 19 Jan., 42/2. A woman was busy making a clearance of such articles as she could stuff away in corners and behind chairs.
1900. W. R. H. Trowbridge, Lett. her Mother to Eliz., xxi. 100, She stuffed her handkerchief into her mouth to keep from shrieking.
1904. Bridges, Demeter, 280. He, like a hurried thief, Stuffs his rich silks into too small a bag.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, xxiv. 276. Courageously stuffing his left arm right into the great jaws.
b. To pack tightly (a person) in a confined space; to crowd (a number of persons together). Also with down, up.
1728. Vanbr. & Cib., Provok’d Husb., II. i. 26. One has really been stufft up in a Coach so long, that—Pray Madam—could not I get a little Powder for my Hair?
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch, Pericles (1879), I. 196/1. A number of people stuffed together … in small huts.
1785. Mrs. Inchbald, I’ll tell you what, I. i. (1787), 10. If we are stuffed into a coach.
1900. Elinor Glyn, Visits Elizabeth, 195. There I was taken off to a sofa … and stuffed down between Godmamma and the Marquis’s mother.
intr. for refl. 1749–50. Mrs. Delany, Life & Corr. (1861), II. 535. I cannot forgive Mrs. J. stuffing into your chariot.
14. Leather-manuf. To dress (a skin) with a coating of dubbing or stuffing.
1844. Newton’s Lond. Jrnl., Conj. Ser. XXV. 247. When the skin or hide is taken out of tan … the patentees oil the grain with good clean oil, then stuff the fleshy side with a mixture of oil, tallow, and turpentine, and hang it up to dry.
1885. H. R. Procter, Tanning, 193. The process of currying consists in softening … the hides and skins … and in saturating or ‘stuffing’ them with fatty matters.
16. Comb.: stuff-guts, one who is addicted to gorging the stomach; in quot. attrib.
1875. Browning, Aristoph. Apol., 112. In me, ’t was equal-balanced flesh rebuked Excess alike in stuff-guts Glauketes Or starveling Chairephon.
