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.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Stiff is an Old English word from a Germanic root meaning “inflexible.” It shares Indo-European ancestry with Latin stipare, “to press” or “pack.” The American noun sense “dead body” dates from the 1850s, while the phrase stiff upper lip originated in North America in the early 19th century.

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.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary