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Crossword clues for stiff

stiff
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
stiff
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a severe/stiff/heavy/tough/harsh penalty
▪ There were calls for stiffer penalties for killers of police officers.
a stiff/long sentence (=a long time in prison)
▪ Police officers are demanding stiffer sentences for offenders.
a stiff/strong breeze
▪ There was a good stiff breeze, just right for sailing.
a stiff/strong drink (=a drink with a lot of strong alcohol)
▪ He was in need of a stiff drink to calm himself down.
be bored stiff/silly/rigid (=extremely bored)
▪ Patti was bored stiff with small-town Massachusetts life.
fierce/intense/stiff opposition (=strong opposition)
▪ It is certain that there will be fierce opposition to the changes.
scared stiffinformal (= extremely scared)
▪ I was scared stiff of going down those cellar steps.
stiff resistance (=strong resistance)
▪ The city government is facing some stiff resistance.
stiff//tough/fierce/intense/keen competition (=strong competition)
▪ There is stiff competition for places at the best universities.
worried sick/stiff (=extremely worried)
▪ Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick!
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
back
▪ Doubtless there were a few stiff backs and aching muscles to contend with after it was all finished.
▪ She didn't need to see that stiff back to know all was not well.
▪ His knee-joints cracked with the effort and he stretched his stiff back, feeling old, spent.
▪ I find myself doing this when I have a tired or stiff back.
breeze
▪ The next day was bright and cold, with a stiff breeze blowing straight down the field.
▪ Put in on a shoe and it will wipe off in a stiff breeze.
▪ Daylight broke, a stiff breeze struck up and the sky clouded over.
▪ A stiff breeze riffles the brush.
▪ The mastheads of beached yachts tinkled in a stiff breeze.
▪ A stiff breeze shoves broken clouds across the moon.
▪ The skill is running down the beach with all your equipment often in a stiff breeze.
challenge
▪ John Kerry beat back a stiff challenge from Republican Gov.
▪ But what the Bears get Saturday might be their stiffest challenge.
▪ For seat No. 3, incumbent Provencio faces stiff challenges from Sandoval and White, both veterans of the campaign trail.
collar
▪ He wore pince-nez spectacles, a round-ended stiff collar, and a moustache.
▪ He dressed like a dandy in a Prince Albert coat, derby hat, and stiff collar.
▪ He was also more formal than she had ever seen him, his suit and stiff collar making him look quite different.
▪ He scratched his neck under his stiff collar, smoked cigarettes, and sucked mints to make his breath smell good.
▪ The men had taken off their stiff collars, but were still uncomfortable in waistcoats and tight trousers and big boots.
▪ Oh yes! and stiff collars.
▪ He was of the old school, complete with stiff collar and bowler hat, and he was a good all-rounder.
competition
▪ For the male, it is a stiff competition, but even the strongest can be unwittingly foiled.
▪ Superior products would evolve and stiff competition would sprout up as Roundup patent protections expired around the globe.
▪ A spokesman for Cuff Roberts said the scheme offered nationwide expertise from Liverpool and stiff competition to Manchester firms.
▪ Whether the high jumper can requalify against stiff competition depends in large part upon the other big change: her takeoff.
▪ The planned deregulation has bred concern that Petron will face stiffer competition and an erosion of its 42 percent market share.
▪ But he says it has some stiff competition from a consortium of Eastern universities and industry.
▪ The company was facing stiff competition and losing market share.
drink
▪ Calm your nerves by deep breathing, not by having a stiff drink.
▪ When he got home he'd have a stiff drink and a long bath, followed by another stiff drink.
▪ A good shower helped, but she would have liked to go down and search for a stiff drink.
▪ I poured myself a stiff drink and tossed it down.
▪ Many people would rather have a stiff drink to help them sleep, than take a sleeping tablet for their insomnia.
▪ A couple of stiff drinks and a bowl of soup afterwards was about all I could cope with.
fine
▪ Under the rules, the Aintree executive could have faced stiff fines.
lip
▪ Oh, hello, guys; stiff lip, stiff lip....
neck
▪ The stiff neck is a way of controlling feeling as are the rigid shoulders and the pulled-in gut.
▪ Rarely, a subarachnoid bleed can present with high fever, stiff neck, and headache masquerading as meningitis.
▪ Sore throat with swollen glands and a stiff neck.
▪ In the morning he woke up with a painful stiff neck.
▪ A stiff neck for a few weeks after a bump was tolerated in the past.
▪ Can you watch television without getting a stiff neck?
▪ She was suffering from a stiff neck which gave her pain whenever she turned her head.
▪ Other signs of tension and fear are a tight mouth, stiff neck, and flared nostrils.
opposition
▪ He is called upon both to defend his faith against stiff opposition and to spread it among his friends.
▪ But that idea has run into stiff opposition.
▪ Union leaders warned that the group's attempt to cut jobs could face stiff opposition.
▪ It is likely to face stiff opposition from trade unions, including the teachers' union, if it does so.
penalty
▪ At the moment, they face fines of £400, but there are moves afoot to introduce stiffer penalties.
▪ There was a stiff penalty if a young lass's loaf fell during baking: one year of bad luck.
▪ Those who did not could face stiff penalties, including a $ 2,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
▪ The stiffer penalties announced by Mason were of limited value by themselves.
▪ The vote would ask approval of stiffer penalties for corruption, including barring convicted officials from office.
▪ In some cases LEAs operating such patrols are pressing magistrates to impose stiff penalties on parents of truants.
▪ The plan calls for stiffer penalties for offences and increased government resources to investigate more incidents.
▪ Conventional mortgages often contain stiff penalties for borrowers who want to redeem all or part of the loan before its end.
resistance
▪ These conditions were expected to meet stiff resistance in the Legislative Assembly.
▪ A bipartisan drive to change the rules for financing federal campaigns is running into stiff resistance from veteran members of Congress.
▪ The hierarchy, however, mounted stiff resistance and publicly denounced any attack on ecclesiastical privileges and property.
▪ Investors had mixed views of how bonds would react if the bailout plan met stiff resistance in the Diet.
▪ A stiff resistance might well increase the pressure on Washington to end the war on Southern terms.
sentence
▪ Gave him a stiff sentence in a House of Correction to teach him better ways.
▪ Alan Eastwood, who represents more than a hundred thousand rank and file officers, wants more police powers and stiffer sentences.
test
▪ Stirrup Cup, unbeaten in six races this season, faces much his stiffest test.
▪ Liphook is the perfect example of a short course which still presents a stiff test of a golfer's skills.
▪ An uncertain outcome to the election and pressure from Britain's currency partners will be a stiff test for the pound.
wind
▪ But after an hour or so of trudging into the stiff wind, a slight feeling of despair crept over me.
▪ Within minutes a stiff wind was blowing over the harbor.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
straight/stiff as a ramrod
▪ Said he was as stiff as a ramrod and would get nowhere, but he's pretty hard on people anyway.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a stiff piece of cardboard
▪ After a twelve hour plane ride, my back was stiff and sore.
▪ As you get older, your muscles become stiffer.
▪ For crimes involving the use of guns, the sentences are particularly stiff.
▪ I felt really stiff after playing basketball last week.
▪ I woke up with a stiff neck this morning.
▪ In the extreme cold my wet shoes became frozen stiff.
▪ Magistrates now have the power to impose stiff penalties on the parents of children who fail to turn up for school.
▪ Motorists who do not obey the rules will face stiff fines of up to £3000.
▪ My legs are stiff from going running last night.
▪ She gives the impression of being rather stiff and unfriendly, but I think that's because she's basically shy.
▪ The collar of his shirt felt stiff and uncomfortable.
▪ The leaves of the anubias plant are very stiff.
▪ The sheets outside on the washing line had gone stiff in the frost.
▪ Their good-byes were stiff and formal.
▪ To make the picture, you will need a sheet of stiff card.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ I tried to smile back, but my face that day was curiously stiff.
▪ Rarely, a subarachnoid bleed can present with high fever, stiff neck, and headache masquerading as meningitis.
▪ The dress didn't suit her, it was too stiff and smart, it looked as if she was trying too hard.
▪ The tremolo would probably need setting up properly because it feels stiff and uneven in use.
▪ Whether the high jumper can requalify against stiff competition depends in large part upon the other big change: her takeoff.
▪ With slow wrinkling his stiff face relaxed now and then into a feminine tender smile.
II.adverb
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be frozen (stiff)
▪ A blue sponge of Holy Water in its receptacle just inside the door was frozen solid.
▪ Assets abroad were frozen by the U. N. These events set into motion the erasure of the middle class.
▪ Bacon should be kept refrigerated and although it can be frozen, freezing is not recommended because the product loses quality.
▪ By the time she turned around, Paula Engado was frozen in space like a china figurine.
▪ It's been predicted that the number of places on courses is likely to be frozen this year.
▪ The cooked meat can be frozen for one month.
▪ The extra pancakes may be frozen.
▪ The lake is frozen solid, but its shape is clearly drawn, absolutely flat in the undulating landscape.
straight/stiff as a ramrod
▪ Said he was as stiff as a ramrod and would get nowhere, but he's pretty hard on people anyway.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Dr Aziz replied stiffly, "I do not consider Mrs Moore my friend.''
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He lay next to me stiff as wood.
▪ I made myself go stiff at first but Mum went on cuddling and soon I sort of collapsed against her.
▪ Leyland rose, stiff, self-conscious, afraid.
▪ Riven was stiff all over, hardly able to stretch himself flat.
▪ The wind was quieter there but the dried-out cold it left behind kept pedestrians fast-moving, stiff inside their coats.
III.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He was rising in the world, a celebrated hijacker, and Charlie was a working stiff with money problems.
▪ How about a series on rock's greatest stiffs?
▪ My dad was a poor working stiff.
▪ They closed the old door behind them and there I was, alone with a few dozen stiffs.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stiff

Stiff \Stiff\, a. [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.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
stiff

Old English stif "rigid, inflexible," from Proto-Germanic *stifaz "inflexible" (cognates: Dutch stijf, Old High German stif, German steif "stiff;" Old Norse stifla "choke"), from PIE *stipos-, from root *steip- "press together, pack, cram" (cognates: Sanskrit styayate "coagulates," stima "slow;" Greek stia, stion "small stone," steibo "press together;" Latin stipare "pack down, press," stipes "post, tree trunk;" Lithuanian stipti "stiffen," stiprus "strong;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall"). Of battles and competitions, from mid-13c.; of liquor, from 1813. To keep a stiff upper lip is attested from 1815. Related: Stiffly.

stiff

late 14c., "to make stiff," from stiff (adj.). Meaning "fail to tip" is from 1939, originally among restaurant and hotel workers, probably from stiff (n.), perhaps in slang sense of "corpse" (because dead men pay no tips), or from the "contemptible person" sense. Extended by 1950 to "cheat."

stiff

"corpse, dead body," 1859, slang, from stiff (adj.) which had been associated with notion of rigor mortis since c.1200. Meaning "working man" first recorded 1930, from earlier genitive sense of "contemptible person," but sometimes merely "man, fellow" (1882). Slang meaning "something or someone bound to lose" is 1890 (originally of racehorses), from notion of "corpse."

Wiktionary
stiff

  1. 1 (lb en of an object) rigid, hard to bend, inflexible. 2 (lb en figurative of policies and rules and their application and enforcement) Inflexible; rigid. 3 (lb en of a person) formal in behavior; unrelaxed. 4 (lb en colloquial) harsh, severe. 5 (lb en of muscles or parts of the body) painful as a result of excessive or unaccustomed exercise. 6 potent. 7 dead, deceased. 8 (lb en of a penis) erect. 9 (lb en culinary of whipping cream or egg whites) Beaten until so aerated that they stand up straight on their own. n. 1 An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education, often a ''working '''stiff''''' or ''lucky '''stiff'''''. 2 A person who is deceived, as a mark or pigeon in a swindle. 3 (context slang English) A cadaver, a dead person. 4 (context US English) A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill. 5 (context blackjack English) Any hard hand where it is possible to exceed 21 by drawing an additional card. v

  2. To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.

Related phrases:
WordNet
stiff

  1. n. an ordinary man; "a lucky stiff"; "a working stiff"

  2. the dead body of a human being [syn: cadaver, corpse, clay, remains]

stiff

  1. adv. extremely; "bored stiff"; "frightened stiff"

  2. in a stiff manner; "his hands lay stiffly" [syn: stiffly]

stiff

  1. adj. 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]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Stiff (novel)

Stiff is a 1994 Australian crime thriller novel, written by Shane Maloney. It is the first novel in a series of crime thrillers following the character of Murray Whelan, as he investigates crimes in the Melbourne area in the course of trying to keep his job with the Australian Labor Party.

Stiff (album)

Stiff is the seventh studio album by the band White Denim. It is their first release following the departure of drummer Josh Block and guitarist Austin Jenkins, who left in March 2015 to work on Leon Bridges' debut album Coming Home. Jonathan Horne and Jeff Olson have joined the band after touring with James Petralli on his solo project Bop English. Stiff was released on 25 March 2016 by Downtown Records.

Stiff

Stiff may refer to:

  • Stiff, a human corpse
  • Stiffness, a material's resistance to bending
  • Stiff (novel), a novel by Shane Maloney in his Murray Whelan series
    • Stiff (film), an Australian TV movie based on the novel, starring David Wenham
  • Stiff (professional wrestling), how a wrestler attacks an opponent
  • Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, a book by Mary Roach
  • Stiff Records, a British record label
  • Seattle's True Independent Film Festival (STIFF), an annual event
  • Jimmy Stiff, former member of American rock band Jackyl
  • Stiff (album), an album by Austin Psychedelic Rock band White Denim.
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "stiff".

Stiff, still achy, he turned so he could run his hand up and down her back.

An announcer, his voice as stiff as his undoubted shirt, broke into the playing and announced a special news bulletin.

Straight at Ged in the small rocking boat he came, opening his long, toothed jaws as he slid down arrowy from the air: so that all Ged had to do was bind his wings and limbs stiff with one sharp spell and send him thus hurtling aside into the sea like a stone falling.

Taverik wanted to balk, shout to his father for help, sit down and refuse to move-but somehow his stiff knees bent and he stumbled, half-supported out the door.

He poured more tea and gave Matern photographs to look at: in a stiff tutu stood Jenny doing an arabesque, like the porcelain ballerina except that her leg was all in one piece.

This morning as always his New Lebanon Sheriffs Department shirt was clean and stiff as a sheet of new balsa wood and his beige slacks had razor creases.

Although his hands were still stiff with cold, the bardling managed to get his mule bridled and saddled.

The wind kept in the condition of a stiff breeze all the time, and certain oscillations of the barometrical column indicated that it tended to freshen.

The three-legged man was a tall, meek-looking person, who had bedizened himself with gorgeous garments, a great feather, and a sword so long and broad, that it differed little in size from the very thin and stiff shanks between which it wandered uncomfortably.

Perhaps that was the reason why, before she went to bed, she took a good look at it, and after taking off her straight, beltless, calico gown she even tried the effect of it, thrust in the stiff waistband of her petticoat, with the jeweled hilt displayed, and thought it looked charming--as indeed it did.

They had it all to themselves, and it was filled with things that Bernard liked--inequalities of level, with mossy steps connecting them, rose-trees trained upon old brick walls, horizontal trellises arranged like Italian pergolas, and here and there a towering poplar, looking as if it had survived from some more primitive stage of culture, with its stiff boughs motionless and its leaves forever trembling.

Flakes of ice blew about in the stiff breeze, masking his words and the frosty breath that uttered them.

Vartan absently shook his head, and Brassey, with a stiff bow, withdrew.

The Rector had meant to put the whisky in the tea, as a toddy, but he poured a stiff one now and Brat drank it.

It was a burnished brown, layers of stiff curboille, wax-boiled leather engraved with spiral designs.