Crossword clues for stiffening
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stiffening \Stiff"en*ing\, n.
Act or process of making stiff.
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Something used to make anything stiff.
Stiffening order (Com.), a permission granted by the customs department to take cargo or ballast on board before the old cargo is out, in order to steady the ship.
Stiffen \Stiff"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stiffened; p. pr. & vb. n. Stiffening.] [See Stiff.]
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To make stiff; to make less pliant or flexible; as, to stiffen cloth with starch.
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.
--Shak. To inspissate; to make more thick or viscous; as, to stiffen paste.
To make torpid; to benumb.
Wiktionary
n. An item, material or feature that makes something stiffer. vb. (present participle of stiffen English)
WordNet
n. the act of becoming stiff; "stiffening his shoulders, he prepared to advance"
the process of becoming stiff or rigid [syn: rigidifying, rigidification]
Wikipedia
Stiffening objects or processes brings rigidity and structural integrity. Stiffening is used in crafts, art, industry, architecture, sports, aerospace, object construction, bookbinding, etc.
Usage examples of "stiffening".
But they remained weak and flaccid, without the hydrostatic stiffening needed for walking.
Men cleaned their rifles, burnished their buttons and closed them to the neck, stubbed out their cigarettes and trembled a little while Castelani rampaged through the camp at Chaldi, dealing out duties, ferreting out the malingerers and stiffening spines with the swishing cane in his right hand.
The other six men in the sept had drawn close around their surlord, reacting to the slowing of his mount and the slight stiffening of his face.
Larch could not have seen the weeds where the stationmaster lay stiffening, either.
Instead of pulling away or stiffening as he expected, she leaned back against him, rubbing her alluring derriere against his thickening groin.
The djins, stiffening their muscular legs, hold back with all their might the heavily loaded little cars which would run down by themselves if let alone, and that so rapidly that they would rush into empty space with my most valuable chattels.
Hissing commands and arguments in the native dialect, posturing herself to convey a plethora of kinesthetic signals: territorial combat fought with words and hisses, hierarchical issues resolved with the ruffling of fur, the stiffening of neck muscles.
The motion that caught his attention was the sudden stiffening of the antennae as he spoke, the two plumelike organs expanding sideways and pointing diagonally forward, as though to bring his head between their tips.
She experienced a stiffening of the breath and a plunging sensation of grey: the Secta equivalent of sadness.
Apart from a toilet break, and to drink and eat and stretch her stiffening limbs, he made Liane sit in the one spot as the master tattooist worked his magic.
Merlin sensed the stiffening of Cei, knew that it was only with difficulty that the other must be restraining his growing rage at such an insult to the King.
Pompey was in a better frame of mind after the old woman from the Further province left to take his fleet back to Gades was perhaps a slight exaggeration, but there certainly had been a stiffening in his spine.
Morgan found his breath coming in short, ragged gasps, and his body reacted to her touch by stiffening involuntarily, as a roaring flame ignited within him.
Men cleaned their rifles, burnished their buttons and closed them to the neck, stubbed out their cigarettes and trembled a little while Castelani rampaged through the camp at Chaldi, dealing out duties, ferreting out the malingerers and stiffening spines with the swishing cane in his right hand.
She cupped his testicles with one hand and stroked his stiffening penis with the other.