stuff

      English

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      Etymology

      From Late Middle English stuffen (“to equip, furnish”), from Old French estoffer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), from Frankish *stopfōn, *stoppōn (“to cram, plug, stuff”), from Proto-Germanic *stuppōnan (“to clog up, block, fill”). Cognate with Old High German stoffōn, stopfōn (“to plug, stuff”), Old English stoppian (“to stop up, close”) and Albanian shtyp (“to press, squeeze, stuff”). More at stop.

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      stuff (usually uncountable; plural stuffs)

      1. Miscellaneous items; things; (with possessive) personal effects.
        What is all that stuff on your bedroom floor?
        He didn't want his pockets to bulge so he was walking around with all his stuff in his hands.
      2. The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object.
      3. A material for making clothing; a textile, often especially a woollen fabric.
        • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 147:
          She was going out to buy some lengths of good woollen stuff for Louise's winter dresses.
      4. Abstract substance or character.
        • c. 1599 William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar: Act 3, scene 2, 91–94
          When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; / Ambition should be made of sterner stuff
        • c. 1610 William Shakespeare, The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 156–157
          We are such stuff / As dreams are made on
      5. (informal) Used as placeholder for material of unknown type or name.
        Can I have some of that stuff on my ice-cream sundae?
      6. (slang, informal) Substitution for trivial details.
        I had to do some stuff.
      7. (slang) Narcotic drugs, especially heroin.
        • 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 11 Mar 1947:
          For some idiotic reason the bureaucrats are more opposed to tea than to stuff.

      Usage notes

      The usage in the sense of textile is increasingly limited to specialized and dated in everday contexts.

      Related terms

      Translations

      miscellaneous items; things
      the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
      cadigan: substitution for material of unknown type or name
      substitution for trivial details
      The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
      Translations to be checked

      Verb

      stuff (third-person singular simple present stuffs, present participle stuffing, simple past and past participle stuffed)

      1. (transitive) To fill (something) up in a compressed manner.
        She stuffed the turkey for Thanksgiving using her secret stuffing recipe of diced bread, onions, and celery .
        • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
          The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles.
      2. (transitive) To fill a space with (something) in a compressed manner.
        He stuffed his clothes into the closet and shut the door.
      3. (transitive, used in the passive) To sate.
        I’m stuffed after having eaten all that turkey, mashed potatoes and delicious stuffing.
      4. (transitive, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To be broken.
      5. (transitive, vulgar, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To sexually penetrate.
      6. (transitive) To be cut off in a race by having one's projected and committed racing line (trajectory) disturbed by an abrupt manoeuvre by a competitor.
        I got stuffed by that guy on the supermoto going into that turn, almost causing us to crash.
      7. to conserve a dead animal

      Synonyms

      Derived terms

      Translations

      to fill (something) up in a compressed manner
      to fill a space with (something) in a compressed manner
      to be sated
      British, Australian: to be broken
      vulgar, British, Australian: insult
      to be cut off in a race
      conserve a dead animal
      The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
      Translations to be checked


      Derived terms

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      Last modified on 14 June 2013, at 20:47