The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stuff \Stuff\, n. [OF. estoffe, F. ['e]toffe; of uncertain origin, perhaps of Teutonic origin and akin to E. stop, v.t. Cf. Stuff, v. t.]
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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. -
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. -
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. -
Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.
He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff.
--Hayward. A medicine or mixture; a potion.
--Shak.-
Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language; nonsense; trash.
Anger would indite Such woeful stuff as I or Shadwell write.
--Dryden. (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.-
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.
Usage examples of "stuff gown".
Should you like to put on your old stuff gown again, and go back to Lant Street with nothing?
The house cleared, I shut myself in, fastened the bolt that none might intrude, and proceeded -- not to weep, not to mourn, I was yet too calm for that, but -- mechanically to take off the wedding dress, and replace it by the stuff gown I had worn yesterday, as I thought, for the last time.
What do you pay for a stuff gown for the wife of the laborer or the mechanic?
Madame Voss in those days always wore a white cap and a dark stuff gown, which was changed on Sundays for one of black silk, and brown mittens on her hands, and she went about the house in soft carpet shoes.
This was Miss Joan Duplessis, in a plain black stuff gown, her young face pale and tear-stained.