Definition: stuff
Source: WordNet (r) 1.7
stuff
n 1: the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a
physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat
is the stuff they use to make bread" [syn: material]
2: miscellaneous unspecified artifacts; "the trunk was full of
stuff" [syn: whatchamacallit, whatsis, sundry, sundries]
3: informal terms for personal possessions; "did you take all
your clobber?" [syn: clobber]
4: senseless talk; "don't give me that stuff" [syn: stuff and
nonsense, hooey, poppycock]
5: unspecified qualities required to do or be something; "the
stuff of heros"; "you don't have the stuff to be a United
States Marine"
6: information in some unspecified form; "it was stuff I had
heard before"; "there's good stuff in that book"
7: a critically important or characteristic component;
"suspense is the very stuff of narrative"
v 1: fill completely; "The child stuffed his pockets with candy"
2: press or force; "Stuff money into an envelope"; "She thrust
the letter into his hand" [syn: thrust, shove, squeeze]
3: eat until one is sated; "He filled up on turkey" [syn: fill
up, fill, jam, cram]
4: obstruct, as of a passage; "My nose is all stuffed"; "Her
arteries are blocked" [syn: lug, choke up, block]
[ant: unstuff]
5: overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself [syn: gorge,
ingurgitate, overindulge, glut, englut, engorge,
overgorge, overeat, gormandize, gormandise, gourmandize,
binge, pig out, satiate, scarf out] [ant: nibble]
6: treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting; "stuff a
bearskin"
7: fill with a stuffing while cooking; "Have you stuffed the
turkey yet?"
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Stuff \Stuff\, n. [OF. estoffe, F. ['e]toffe; of uncertain
origin, perhaps of Teutonic origin and akin to E. stop, v.t.
Cf. Stuff, v. t.]
1. Material which is to be worked up in any process of
manufacture.
For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the
work to make it, and too much. --Ex. xxxvi.
7.
Ambitions should be made of sterner stuff. --Shak.
The workman on his stuff his skill doth show, And
yet the stuff gives not the man his skill. --Sir J.
Davies.
2. The fundamental material of which anything is made up;
elemental part; essence.
Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience To do
no contrived murder. --Shak.
3. Woven material not made into garments; fabric of any kind;
specifically, any one of various fabrics of wool or
worsted; sometimes, worsted fiber.
What stuff wilt have a kirtle of? --Shak.
It [the arras] was of stuff and silk mixed, though,
superior kinds were of silk exclusively. --F. G.
Lee.
4. Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.
He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff.
--Hayward.
5. A medicine or mixture; a potion. --Shak.
6. Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or
irrational language; nonsense; trash.
Anger would indite Such woeful stuff as I or
Shadwell write. --Dryden.
7. (Naut.) A melted mass of turpentine, tallow, etc., with
which the masts, sides, and bottom of a ship are smeared
for lubrication. --Ham. Nav.
Encyc.
8. Paper stock ground ready for use.
Note: When partly ground, called half stuff. --Knight.
Clear stuff. See under Clear.
Small stuff (Naut.), all kinds of small cordage. --Ham.
Nav. Encyc.
Stuff gown, the distinctive garb of a junior barrister;
hence, a junior barrister himself. See Silk gown, under
Silk.
Stuff \Stuff\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stuffed; p. pr. & vb. n. Stuffing.] [OE. stoffen; cf. OF. estoffer, F. ['e]toffer, to put stuff in, to stuff, to line, also, OF. estouffer to stifle, F. ['e]touffer; both perhaps of Teutonic origin, and akin to E. stop. Cf. Stop, v. t., Stuff, n.] 1. To fill by crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess; as, to stuff a bedtick. Sometimes this crook drew hazel bought adown, And stuffed her apron wide with nuts so brown. --Gay. Lest the gods, for sin, Should with a swelling dropsy stuff thy skin. --Dryden. 2. To thrust or crowd; to press; to pack. Put roses into a glass with a narrow mouth, stuffing them close together . . . and they retain smell and color. --Bacon. 3. To fill by being pressed or packed into. With inward arms the dire machine they load, And iron bowels stuff the dark abode. --Dryden. 4. (Cookery) To fill with a seasoning composition of bread, meat, condiments, etc.; as, to stuff a turkey. 5. To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration. I'm stuffed, cousin; I can not smell. --Shak. 6. To fill the skin of, for the purpose of preserving as a specimen; -- said of birds or other animals. 7. To form or fashion by packing with the necessary material. An Eastern king put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence, and ordered his hide to be stuffed into a cushion, and placed upon the tribunal. --Swift. 8. To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies. 9. To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box). [U. S.]
Stuff \Stuff\, v. i.
To feed gluttonously; to cram.
Taught harmless man to cram and stuff. --Swift.
