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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Stiff \Stiff\, adjective [Compar. {Stiffer}; superl. {Stiffest}.] [OE. stif, AS. st[=i]f; akin to D. stijf, G. steif, Dan. stiv, Sw. styf, Icel. st[=i]fr, Lith. stipti to be stiff; cf. L. stipes a post, trunk of a tree, stipare to press, compress. Cf. {Costive}, {Stifle}, {Stipulate}, {Stive} to stuff.]
1. Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints.
[They] rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid a["e]rial sky. --Milton.
2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; neither soft nor hard; as, the paste is stiff.
3. Firm; strong; violent; difficult to oppose; as, a stiff gale or breeze.
4. Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary.
It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument. --Jer. Taylor.
A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause, Stiff to defend their hospitable laws. --Dryden.
5. Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style.
The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved. --Addison.
6. Harsh; disagreeable; severe; hard to bear. [Obs. or Colloq.] ''This is stiff news.'' --Shak.
7. (Naut.) Bearing a press of canvas without careening much; as, a stiff vessel; -- opposed to {crank}. --Totten.
8. Very large, strong, or costly; powerful; as, a stiff charge; a stiff price. [Slang]
{Stiff neck}, a condition of the neck such that the head can not be moved without difficulty and pain.
Syn: Rigid; inflexible; strong; hardly; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; harsh; formal; constrained; affected; starched; rigorous.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
stiff
adjective
1: lacking ease in bending; not limber; "a stiff neck"; "stiff joints"; "stiff hairs"
2: not moving or operating freely; "a stiff hinge"
3: powerful; "a stiff current"; "a stiff breeze"; "a stiff drink"
4: rigidly formal; "a starchy manner"; "the letter was stiff and formal"; "his prose has a buckram quality" [syn: {starchy}, {buckram}]
5: hard to overcome or surmount; "a stiff hike"; "a stiff exam"; "an uphill battle against a popular incumbant" [syn: {uphill}]
6: of a collar; standing up rather than folded down; "an uncomfortable standup collar"; "a stiff collar" [syn: {stand-up}]
7: incapable of or resistant to bending; "a rigid strip of metal"; "a table made of rigid plastic"; "a palace guardsman stiff as a poker" [syn: {rigid}]
8: very drunk [syn: {besotted}, {blind drunk}, {blotto}, {crocked}, {cockeyed}, {fuddled}, {loaded}, {pie-eyed}, {pissed}, {pixilated}, {plastered}, {potty}, {slopped}, {sloshed}, {smashed}, {soaked}, {soused}, {sozzled}, {squiffy}, {tiddly}, {tiddley}, {tight}, {tipsy}, {wet}]
noun
1: an ordinary man; "a lucky stiff"; "a working stiff"
2: the dead body of a human being [syn: {cadaver}, {corpse}, {clay}, {remains}]
adverb
1: extremely; "bored stiff"; "frightened stiff"
2: in a stiff manner; "his hands lay stiffly" [syn: {stiffly}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
522 Moby Thesaurus words for "stiff": Arab, Bowery bum, Latinate, a bit much, abandoned, abusive, adamant, adamantine, afflictive, alcoholic, all thumbs, aloof, arduous, arid, artificial, ashes, austere, awkward, balker, balky horse, barren, beach bum, beachcomber, beggar, beggarly fellow, blah, blank, blighter, blind, blind drunk, bloodless, blotto, blue-collar worker, blunderheaded, blundering, bo, body, bold, bombastic, bones, boorish, boundless, breadwinner, brisk, brittle, buckram, budmash, bum, bumbling, bummer, bungling, butterfingered, cadaver, caitiff, carcass, careless, carrion, cartilaginous, cast-iron, casual, casual laborer, ceremonious, challenging, characterless, cheapskate, chewy, chilly, clay, clownish, clumsy, clumsy-fisted, cohesive, cold, colorless, common laborer, compact, cool, coriaceous, corpse, corpus delicti, costly, cramped, crock, crowbait, cruel, cumbersome, cumbrous, day laborer, dead, dead as mutton, dead body, dead man, dead person, dear, dear-bought, decedent, dense, derelict, determined, devil, difficult, dismal, distressing, dog, dogged, dogie, dour, draggy, drastic, drearisome, dreary, drifter, drunkard, dry, dry bones, dryasdust, dull, durable, dust, dusty, earth, effete, egregious, elephantine, embalmed corpse, employee, empty, energetic, enormous, etiolated, exaggerated, excessive, excruciating, exhausting, exorbitant, expensive, extravagant, extreme, fabulous, factory worker, fade, fancy, fatiguing, fibrous, fingers all thumbs, firm, fit for sea, flat, flinty, flunky, food for worms, forced, forceful, formal, free lance, free-lancer, fresh, full-time worker, fumbling, fundamentalist, gamin, gamine, garron, gauche, gawkish, gawky, gigantic, gluttonous, goat, gone to seed, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, graceless, grim, gristly, guinde, gusty, guttersnipe, hack, had, halting, ham-fisted, ham-handed, hand, hard, hard-core, hardened, hardy, harrowing, harsh, haughty, heavy, heavy-handed, helpless, hidebound, high, high-priced, ho-hum, hobo, hollow, homeless waif, howling, hulking, hulky, human wreck, hurtful, hyperbolic, hypertrophied, idler, immoderate, immovable, immutable, implacable, impliable, in buckram, inane, incontinent, indomitable, industrial worker, inelastic, inelegant, inexcitable, inexorable, inflexible, inkhorn, inordinate, insipid, intemperate, intense, intransigent, iron, ironbound, ironclad, ironhanded, irreconcilable, jade, jejune, jobber, jobholder, jughead, labored, laborer, laboring man, laborious, landloper, lasting, late lamented, lazzarone, leaden, leatherlike, leathery, left-hand, left-handed, lifeless, loafer, losel, loutish, low-spirited, lowlife, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, luxurious, maladroit, mannered, mauvais sujet, mean wretch, menial, merciless, migrant, miser, moiler, monstrous, mortal remains, mucker, mudlark, mummification, mummy, muscle-bound, nag, navvy, no-good, not affordable, oafish, obdurate, obstinate, of great cost, office temporary, on the downgrade, organic remains, orthodox, out, out cold, out of bounds, out of condition, out of shape, out of sight, out of training, outrageous, overbig, overcome, overdeveloped, overgreat, overgrown, overlarge, overmuch, overpowering, overweening, overwhelming, painful, pale, pallid, paralyzed, passed out, pauvre diable, pedantic, pedestrian, petrified, piker, pilgarlic, plodding, plug, pointless, pokerlike, poky, pompous, ponderous, poor creature, poor devil, potent, powerful, premium, pricey, prim, procrustean, proletarian, punishing, punitive, purist, puristic, puritan, puritanic, ragamuffin, ragman, ragpicker, ramrodlike, relentless, relics, reliquiae, remains, renitent, reserved, resistant, resolute, resolved, rich, rigid, rigorist, rigoristic, rigorous, roarer, rock-ribbed, rockbound, rodlike, rogue, ropy, rosinante, rough, rounder, roustabout, run to seed, rusty, sad case, sad sack, salaried worker, scalawag, sea-kindly, seaworthy, self-employed person, servant, sesquipedalian, severe, sinewy, skeleton, ski bum, skid-row bum, skinflint, slipping, sloppy, slow, snobbish, snooty, snug, soft, solemn, solid, solidified, spanking, spiritless, standoffish, starch, starched, starchy, stark, staunch, steady, steely, steep, sterile, stern, stiff as buckram, stiffened, stilted, stodgy, stone-cold, stone-dead, stoned, straightlaced, straitlaced, stray, street Arab, street urchin, stringy, strong, stubborn, stuffy, sumptuous, sundowner, superficial, surf bum, swagman, swagsman, tasteless, tatterdemalion, taut, tedious, temporary, tenacious, tender, tenement of clay, tennis bum, tense, the dead, the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one, thick, tight, tightwad, tiring, toiler, toilsome, too much, top, tormenting, torturous, tough, tough as leather, tramp, truant, turgid, turnpiker, unaffected, unalterable, unbearable, unbending, unbridled, unchangeable, uncompromising, unconscionable, uncouth, under the table, undue, unflexible, unfriendly, ungainly, ungiving, ungraceful, unhandy, unlively, unmoved, unpayable, unreasonable, unrelaxed, unrelenting, unrestrained, untiring, unwieldy, unyielding, uphill, uptight, urchin, vag, vagabond, vagrant, vapid, vaurien, vigorous, virgate, viscid, wage earner, wage slave, wageworker, waif, waifs and strays, wastrel, waterproof, watertight, weatherly, whistler, wiry, wooden, worker, workgirl, workhand, working girl, workingman, workingwoman, workman, worthless fellow, wretch
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