From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stuff \Stuff\, noun [OF. estoffe, F. ['e]toffe; of uncertain origin, perhaps of Teutonic origin and akin to E. stop, v.t. Cf. {Stuff}, verb (used with an object)]
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}.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stuff \Stuff\, verb (used without an object) To feed gluttonously; to cram.
Taught harmless man to cram and stuff. --Swift.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stuff \Stuff\, verb (used with an object) [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}, verb (used with an object), {Stuff}, noun]
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.]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to make bread" [syn: {material}]
2: miscellaneous unspecified objects; "the trunk was full of stuff" [syn: {whatchamacallit}, {whatsis}, {sundry}, {sundries}]
3: informal terms for personal possessions; "did you take all your clobber?" [syn: {clobber}]
4: senseless talk; "don't give me that stuff" [syn: {stuff and nonsense}, {hooey}, {poppycock}]
5: unspecified qualities required to do or be something; "the stuff of heros"; "you don't have the stuff to be a United States Marine"
6: information in some unspecified form; "it was stuff I had heard before"; "there's good stuff in that book"
7: a critically important or characteristic component; "suspense is the very stuff of narrative"
verb
1: fill completely; "The child stuffed his pockets with candy"
2: press or force; "Stuff money into an envelope"; "She thrust the letter into his hand" [syn: {thrust}, {shove}, {squeeze}]
3: obstruct; "My nose is all stuffed"; "Her arteries are blocked" [syn: {lug}, {choke up}, {block}] [ant: {unstuff}]
4: overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself; "She stuffed herself at the dinner"; "The kids binged on icecream" [syn: {gorge}, {ingurgitate}, {overindulge}, {glut}, {englut}, {engorge}, {overgorge}, {overeat}, {gormandize}, {gormandise}, {gourmandize}, {binge}, {pig out}, {satiate}, {scarf out}]
5: treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting; "stuff a bearskin"
6: fill tightly with a material; "stuff a pillow with feathers"; "The old lady wants to have her dead poodle stuffed by the taxidermist"
7: fill with a stuffing while cooking; "Have you stuffed the turkey yet?"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
360 Moby Thesaurus words for "stuff": abilities, accessories, accomplishments, addictive drug, air, aliment, allay, anhydrate, atom, atomic particles, atoms, attitude, attributes, axiom, baggage, balderdash, baloney, bar, batten, being, belongings, bind, blast-freeze, block, block up, blockade, bolt, bolt down, bosh, bottom, breast-feed, brim, brine, brute matter, building block, bull, bullshit, bung, bunk, bunkum, candy, capabilities, caulk, ceil, center, charge, chattels, chemical element, chink, chock, choke, choke off, choke up, claptrap, clobber, clog, clog up, cloth, cloy, component, compress, congest, constipate, constituent, core, cork, corn, cover, cram, cram in, crap, creations, crowd, crowd in, cure, dam, dam up, dangerous drug, dehydrate, desiccate, devour, distillate, distillation, dope, dough, drapery, drench, drive in, drug, dry, dry-cure, dry-nurse, dry-salt, earth, effects, element, elementary particle, elementary unit, elixir, embalm, engorge, entity, equipment, essence, essential, essentiality, essentials, etoffe, evaporate, fabric, face, fatten, fatten up, feather, felt, fiddle-faddle, fill, fill to overflowing, fill up, fire, flapdoodle, flower, focus, force, force in, force-feed, foster, foul, freeze, freeze-dry, freight, fume, fundamental, fundamental particle, fundamentals, fur, furniture, garbage, gear, gist, glut, gluttonize, gobble, goods, gorge, gormandize, gravamen, grit, gulp, gulp down, guttle, guzzle, hard drug, hard stuff, heart, hogwash, hot air, humbug, hyle, hypostasis, impact, impedimenta, individual, ingredients, inlay, inner essence, interline, irradiate, jade, jam, jam in, jam-pack, jerk, junk, kernel, kipper, kit, knock in, lace, lactate, lade, line, live to eat, load, lumber, makings, malarkey, marinade, marinate, marrow, material, material resources, material world, materiality, materials, materiel, matter, meat, medium, molecule, monad, mummify, napery, natural world, nature, nonsense, nourish, nub, nucleus, nurse, nurture, nutrify, nuts and bolts, object, obstipate, obstruct, overburden, overcharge, overdose, overeat, overfeed, overfill, overgorge, overindulge, overlade, overload, oversaturate, overstuff, overweight, pack, pack in, pad, pall, pang, paraphernalia, pelf, personal, physical world, pickle, piffle, pith, plenum, plug, plug up, plunder, plunge in, poke in, poppycock, possessions, postulate, pound in, preservatize, press, press in, principle, property, push in, quick-freeze, quid, quiddity, quintessence, quintessential, rag, ram, ram in, raven, raw material, refrigerate, rhino, rocks, rot, rubbish, run in, salt, sap, sate, satiate, satisfy, saturate, scratch, season, shekels, shit, shove, silk, slake, smash, smoke, smoke-cure, soak, soul, spile, spirit, squash, squeeze, squeeze in, stanch, staple, stay, stench, stock, stop, stop up, stopper, stopple, store, stuff and nonsense, stuff in, stuff up, stumpy, substance, substances, substratum, suckle, sugar, sum and substance, supercharge, supersaturate, supply, surcharge, surfeit, swill, tackle, talents, tamp, tamp in, tangible, textile, textile fabric, texture, the four elements, the nitty-gritty, things, thrust, thrust in, tissu, tissue, top off, trappings, traps, trash, tricks, tripe, twaddle, unit of being, virtuality, wad, wainscot, water, weave, web, wedge in, weft, weight, wet-nurse, wolf, wolf down, woof, wool, works
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