- rigid or firm; difficult or impossible to bend or flex: a stiff collar.
- not moving or working easily: The motor was a little stiff from the cold weather.
- (of a person or animal) not supple; moving with difficulty, as from cold, age, exhaustion, or injury.
- strong; forceful; powerful: stiff winds;The fighter threw a stiff right to his opponent's jaw.
- strong or potent to the taste or system, as a beverage or medicine: He was cold and wanted a good stiff drink.
- resolute; firm in purpose; unyielding; stubborn.
- stubbornly continued: a stiff battle.
- firm against any tendency to decrease, as stock-market prices.
- rigidly formal; cold and unfriendly, as people, manners, or proceedings.
- lacking ease and grace; awkward: a stiff style of writing.
- excessively regular or formal, as a design; not graceful in form or arrangement.
- laborious or difficult, as a task.
- severe or harsh, as a penalty or demand.
- excessive; unusually high or great: $50 is pretty stiff to pay for that.
- firm from tension; taut: to keep a stiff rein.
- relatively firm in consistency, as semisolid matter; thick: a stiff jelly;a stiff batter.
- dense or compact; not friable: stiff soil.
- (of a vessel) having a high resistance to rolling; stable (opposed to crank2).
- sturdy, stout, or strongly built.
- out of luck; unfortunate.
- Slang.
- a dead body; corpse.
- a formal or priggish person.
- a poor tipper; tightwad.
- a drunk.
- Slang.
- a fellow: lucky stiff; poor stiff.
- a tramp; hobo.
- a laborer.
- Slang.
- a forged check.
- a promissory note or bill of exchange.
- a letter or note, especially if secret or smuggled.
- a contestant, especially a racehorse, sure to lose.
- in or to a firm or rigid state: The wet shirt was frozen stiff.
- completely, intensely, or extremely: I'm bored stiff by these lectures.We're scared stiff.
- to fail or refuse to tip (a waiter, porter, etc.).
- to cheat; swindle; do out of: The company stiffed me out of a week's pay.
- not easily bent; rigid; inflexible
- not working or moving easily or smoothly
- difficult to accept in its severity or harshness
- moving with pain or difficulty; not supple
- difficult; arduous
- unrelaxed or awkward; formal
- firmer than liquid in consistency; thick or viscous
- powerful; strong
- excessively high
- (of a sailing vessel) relatively resistant to heeling or rolling
- lacking grace or attractiveness
- stubborn or stubbornly maintained
- tightly stretched; taut
- unlucky
- intoxicated
- stiff upper lip See lip (def. 9)
- amply provided with
- a corpse
- anything thought to be a loser or a failure; flop
- completely or utterly
- to fail
- to cheat or swindle
- to kill
