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stuff - 9 dictionary results

stuff

  [stuhf]
Use stuff in a Sentence
–noun
1. the material of which anything is made: a hard, crystalline stuff.
2. material to be worked upon or to be used in making something: wood, steel, and other stuff for building.
3. material of some unspecified kind: a cushion filled with some soft stuff.
4. Chiefly British. woven material or fabric, esp. wool.
5. property, as personal belongings or equipment; things.
6. something to be swallowed, as food, drink, or medicine.
7. inward character, qualities, or capabilities: to have good stuff in one.
8. Informal. action or talk of a particular kind: kid stuff; Cut out the rough stuff.
9. worthless things or matter: to clean the stuff out of a closet.
10. worthless or foolish ideas, talk, or writing: a lot of stuff and nonsense.
11. Sports.
a. Baseball. the assortment of pitches that a pitcher uses in a game together with the ability to deliver them in the proper manner at the right speed to the desired spot: He saved his best stuff for the tougher hitters in the lineup.
b. spin or speed imparted to a ball, as by a baseball pitcher, a bowler, or a tennis player: a pitch with plenty of stuff.
12. Informal. journalistic, literary, artistic, dramatic, musical, or other compositions or performances: Bach composed some splendid stuff.
13. Informal. one's trade, skill, field, facts, etc.: She knows her stuff.
14. Slang. any kind of drug, esp. an illicit one.
15. Also called stock. Papermaking. refined and beaten wet pulp ready for spreading on the wire.
–verb (used with object)
16. to fill (a receptacle), esp. by packing the contents closely together; cram full.
17. to fill (an aperture, cavity, etc.) by forcing something into it.
18. to fill or line with some kind of material as a padding or packing.
19. to fill or cram (oneself, one's stomach, etc.) with food.
20. to fill (meat, vegetables, etc.) with seasoned bread crumbs or other savory matter.
21. to fill the preserved skin of (a dead animal) with material, retaining its natural form and appearance for display.
22. to put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box).
23. to thrust or cram (something) into a receptacle, cavity, or the like.
24. to pack tightly in a confined place; crowd together.
25. to crowd (a vehicle, room, etc.) with persons.
26. to clutter or fill (the mind) with facts, details, etc.
27. (in leather manufacturing) to treat (a skin, hide, etc.) with a composition of tallow and other ingredients.
28. to stop up or plug; block or choke (usually fol. by up).
–verb (used without object)
29. to cram oneself with food; eat gluttonously; gorge.
Origin:
1300–50; (v.) late ME stuffen to equip, furnish < OF estoffer lit., to stuff < Frankish *stopfōn, *stoppōn (see stop ); (n.) ME < OF estoffe, deriv. of the v.

Related forms:
stuffless, adjective

Synonyms:
1, 2, 3. See matter. 9. waste, rubbish, trash. 10. nonsense, twaddle, claptrap, balderdash. 23. press, stow. 28. obstruct.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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stuff   (stŭf)   
n.  
  1. The material out of which something is made or formed; substance.
  2. The essential substance or elements; essence: "We are such stuff/As dreams are made on" (Shakespeare).
  3. Informal
    1. Unspecified material: Put that stuff over there.
    2. Household or personal articles considered as a group.
    3. Worthless objects.
    4. The control a player has over a ball, especially to give it spin, english, curve, or speed.
    5. The spin, english, curve, or speed imparted to a ball: "where we could watch the stuff, mainly curves, that the pitchers were putting on the ball" (James Henry Gray).
  4. Slang Specific talk or actions: Don't give me that stuff about being tired.
  5. Sports
    1. The control a player has over a ball, especially to give it spin, english, curve, or speed.
    2. The spin, english, curve, or speed imparted to a ball: "where we could watch the stuff, mainly curves, that the pitchers were putting on the ball" (James Henry Gray).
  6. Basketball A dunk shot.
  7. Special capability: The team really showed its stuff and won the championship.
  8. Chiefly British Woven material, especially woolens.
  9. Slang Money; cash.
  10. Slang A drug, especially one that is illegal or habit-forming.
v.   stuffed, stuff·ing, stuffs

v.   tr.
    1. To pack (a container) tightly; cram: stuff a Christmas stocking.
    2. To block (a passage); plug: stuff a crack with caulking.
    3. Basketball To block (a shot or an opponent who is shooting), especially before the ball leaves the shooter's hands.
    4. To place forcefully into a container or space; thrust: stuffed laundry into the bag.
    5. Sports To shoot (a ball or puck) forcefully into the goal from close range.
    6. Basketball To dunk (the ball).
    7. To fill with an appropriate stuffing: stuff a pillow.
    8. To fill (an animal skin) to restore its natural form for mounting or display.
    1. To place forcefully into a container or space; thrust: stuffed laundry into the bag.
    2. Sports To shoot (a ball or puck) forcefully into the goal from close range.
    3. Basketball To dunk (the ball).
    4. To fill with an appropriate stuffing: stuff a pillow.
    5. To fill (an animal skin) to restore its natural form for mounting or display.
    1. To fill with an appropriate stuffing: stuff a pillow.
    2. To fill (an animal skin) to restore its natural form for mounting or display.
  4. To cram with food.
  5. To fill (the mind): His head is stuffed with silly notions.
  6. To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box).
  7. To apply a preservative and softening agent to (leather).
v.   intr.
To overeat; gorge.

[Middle English, from Old French estoffe, from estoffer, to equip, of Germanic origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : stuff
Spanish: materia; material; sustancia; cosa,
German: das Zeug,
Japanese: もの
More Translations »

stuff  (n.)
c.1330, "quilted material worn under chain mail," from O.Fr. estoffe "quilted material, furniture, provisions" (Fr. étoffe), from estoffer "to equip or stock," probably from O.H.G. stopfon "to plug, stuff," or from a related Frankish word (see stop). Sense extended to material for working with in various trades (1406), then (1580) "matter of an unspecified kind." Meaning "narcotic, dope, drug" is attested from 1929. To know (one's) stuff "have a grasp on a subject" is recorded from 1927. stuffy "poorly ventilated" is from 1831; sense of "pompous, smug" is from 1895.

stuff  (v.)
1440, "to cram full," from stuff (n.); earlier "to furnish a fort or army with men and stores" (c.1300). The ballot-box sense is attested from 1854, Amer.Eng.; in expressions of contempt and suggestive of bodily orifices, it dates from 1952. Stuffing "seasoned mixture used to stuff fowls before cooking" is from 1538. Stuffed in ref. to garments, "padded with stuffing" is from 1467; hence stuffed shirt "pompous, ineffectual person" (1913).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: stuff
Pronunciation: 'st&f
Function: transitive verb
: to choke or block up (as nasal passages) stuffed up nose>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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stuff

In addition to the idioms beginning with stuff, also see get stuffed; hot number (stuff); kid stuff; know one's stuff; strut one's stuff.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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