stiff

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Hard to bend or move; rigid.

   The old hinge was stiff and would not open easily.

2. 2
   adj

   Sore and hard to move, usually after exercise.

   My legs are stiff after climbing that hill yesterday.

3. 3
   adj

   Harsh or severe.

   He was caught and given a stiff fine.

4. 4
   adj

   Strong and powerful.

   A stiff breeze blew the leaves across the yard.

5. 5
   adv

   Extremely; very much.

   The lecture was so dull that I was bored stiff.

Common collocations

• stiff neck Adjective + noun

From Middle English stiff, stiffe, stif, from Old English stīf, from Proto-West Germanic *stīf, from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steypós. See also West Frisian stiif, Dutch stijf, Norwegian Bokmål stiv, German steif; also Latin stīpes, stīpō, from which English stevedore. The expected Modern English form would be /staɪf/; /stɪf/ is probably originally from compounds such as stiffly, where the vowel was shortened before a consonant cluster.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images