1. † a. Well stored or provided (obs.). b. In later use, of a receptacle: Filled full, crammed; also with out.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/1. Stuffyd wythe stoore, instauratus.
1483. Caxton, Cato, 2 b. A noble and well stuffed lybrary.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 497. That huge Bombard of Sacke, that stuft Cloake-bagge of Guts.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., 11. His own stufft magazin, and hoard of slanderous inventions.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. VI. v. Men of Agio,… with stuffed purses.
1898. B. Gregory, Side Lights Confl. Meth., 495. Rescued … from the stuffed-out wallet of oblivion.
† c. Stuffed man: A wealthy man, a man of substance. Obs.
c. 1400. Beryn, 1730. The Burgeys was a stuffid man, þere lakkid noon deynte.
† d. fig. Full, complete. Obs.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., II. i. 185. I haue dispatch’d in post,… Cleomines and Dion, whom you know Of stuff’d-sufficiency.
2. Of a garment, cushion, or the like: Filled out with some distending or stiffening material. Also with out.
1467. Songs Costume (Percy Soc.), 57. Leve your short stuffede dowblettes and your pleytid gownys.
1650. Weldon, Crt. Jas. I. (1651), 164. His Breeches in great pleits and full stuffed.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, liii. One of N——’s best stuffed coats.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 327. A stuffed easy-chair.
1858. J. Baron, Scudamore Organs, 53. The floor-sweeping and stuffed-out dresses of ladies, in juxtaposition with the short and scant garments of the poorer women.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 225. Our donkeys had no saddles: a stuffed sack was fastened on mine.
3. Of a dead animal, its skin: Filled with cotton, tow, etc., so as to preserve it and present the natural form of the living animal.
1595. Shaks., John, I. i. 141. And if … My armes [were] such eele-skins stuft.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 11. The great stuffed dog is a curiosity.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, v. Huge antlers of deer,… interspersed with the stuffed skins of badgers,… and other animals of the chase.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxvii. Two stuffed and dried fish in glass cases.
4. Of a fowl, joint, fish, etc.: Filled with forcement or minced seasoning before cooking. Stuffed eggs: see quot. 1883.
1729. H. Carey, Poems (ed. 3), 128. He gave her a Collation of Buns, Cheesecakes, Gammon of Bacon, Stuff’d-beef, and Bottled-Ale.
1852. R. B. Mansfield, Log Water Lily, 25. A stuffed goose and other delicacies.
1833. Amer. Dishes, 193. Stuffed Eggs.—Cut six hard-boiled eggs in two. Take out the yolks and mash them fine. Add two teaspoonfuls of butter, one of cream…. Mix all thoroughly. Fill the eggs from the mixture, and put them together.
5. Stopped up, obstructed; said esp. of a bodily organ when diseased. Of the head or brain: Oppressed by a feeling of obstruction. Also with up.
1584. Cogan, Haven Health, cxi. 99. Almonde butter … good for a stuffed brest.
1711. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 1 Sept. My head is pretty well, only … sometimes it feels very stufft.
1772. Lady M. Coke, Jrnl., 15 Jan. (1896), IV. 10. Her head was so stuff’d that She was obliged to hold her head over hot water.
1855. Browning, Andrea del Sarto, 80. In their vexed, beating, stuffed and stopped-up brain.
1904. Sladen, Playing the Game, II. ix. Rich never could sing in tune, and he whistled like a stuffed-up dog-whistle.
fig. 1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 44. And with some sweet Obliuious Antidote Cleanse the stufft bosome, of that perillous stuffe Which weighes vpon the heart.
