Stuff | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Stŭff, n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. estoffe, Fr. étoffe, Sp. & Pg. estofa, It. stoffa, stoffo, L. Lat. estofa, Ger. stoff, D. stof, Dan. stof, probably from Lat. stuppa, tow, oakum. Cf. STUPE.]

Sense 1. Material which is to be worked up in any process of manufacture.

Cæsar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Shak.

Degrading prose explains his meaning ill, And shows the stuff, and not the workman's skill. Roscommon.

Time is the stuff which life is made of. Franklin.

Sense 2. Especially, woven material; cloth not made into garments; fabric.

What stuff will you have a kirtle of? Shak.

Sense 3. Specifically, a textile fabric made entirely of worsted. Tomlinson.

Sense 4. Furniture; goods; domestic vessels. [Obsolescent.]

He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff. Hayward.

Sense 5. Essence; elemental part.

Yet I do hold it very stuff o' th' conscience To do no contrived murder. Shak.

Sense 6. A medicine or mixture; a potion. Shak.

Sense 7. Refuse or worthless matter; unorganized matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language; nonsense.

Anger would indite Such woful stuff as I or Shadwell write. Dryden.

Sense 8. (Naut.) A melted mass of turpentine, tallow, &c., with which the masts, sides, and bottom of a ship are smeared.

Stuff, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [ĭmp. & p. p. STUFFED (stŭft); p. pr. & vb. n. STUFFING.] [See supra; O. Fr. estoffer, Fr. étoffer, Sp. & Pg. estofer, Ger. stopfen.]

Sense 1. To fill by crowding; to cause to expand or swell from fullness; to load to excess; to crowd; as, to stuff a bedtick.

This crook drew hazel boughs adown, And stuffed her apron wide with nuts so brown. Guy.

Sense 2. To thrust or crowd; to press.

Put roses into a glass with a narrow mouth, stuffing them close together. Bacon.

Sense 3. To fill by being put into.

With inward arms the dire machine they load, And iron bowels stuff the dark abode. Dryden.

Sense 4. Specifically, to fill with seasoning; as, to stuff meat.

Sense 5. To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect an organ of, as of sense.

I'm stuffed, cousin; I can not smell. Shak.

Sense 6. To fill the skin of, for the purpose of preserving as a specimen; — said of birds, animals, and the like.

Sense 7. To form or fashion by stuffing.

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.

Sense 8. To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies.

To stuff a ballot-box, to crowd it with fraudulent votes. [U. S.]

Stŭff, v. i.

verbintransitive

To feed gluttonously. “Taught harmless man to cram and stuff.” Swift.