stuff Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
    material.
    • coal is a hard black material
    • wheat is the stuff they use to make bread
  2. noun miscellaneous unspecified objects
    • the trunk was full of stuff
  3. noun informal terms for personal possessions
    clobber.
    • did you take all your clobber?
  4. noun senseless talk
    stuff and nonsense; hooey; poppycock.
    • don't give me that stuff
  5. noun unspecified qualities required to do or be something
    • the stuff of heros
    • you don't have the stuff to be a United States Marine
  6. noun information in some unspecified form
    • it was stuff I had heard before
    • there's good stuff in that book
  7. noun a critically important or characteristic component
    • suspense is the very stuff of narrative
  8. verb cram into a cavity
    • The child stuffed candy into his pockets
  9. verb press or force
    thrust; squeeze; shove.
    • Stuff money into an envelope
    • She thrust the letter into his hand
  10. verb obstruct
    choke up; block; lug.
    • My nose is all stuffed
    • Her arteries are blocked
  11. verb overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself
    engorge; gormandize; gormandise; overgorge; glut; overeat; satiate; englut; ingurgitate; overindulge; gorge; scarf out; gourmandize; binge; pig out.
    • She stuffed herself at the dinner
    • The kids binged on ice cream
  12. verb treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting
    • stuff a bearskin
  13. verb fill tightly with a material
    • stuff a pillow with feathers
  14. verb fill with a stuffing while cooking
    farce.
    • Have you stuffed the turkey yet?

WordNet

Stuff noun
Etymology
OF. estoffe, F. étoffe; of uncertain origin, perhaps of Teutonic origin and akin to E. stop, v.t. Cf. Stuff, v. t.
Definitions
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.
    He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff. Hayward.
  5. A medicine or mixture; a potion. Shak.
  6. Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language; nonsense; trash.
    Anger would indite Such woeful stuff as I or Shadwell write. Dryden.
  7. (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.
  8. Paper stock ground ready for use. ✍ When partly ground, called half stuff. Knight.
Stuff transitive verb
Etymology
OE. stoffen; cf. OF. estoffer, F. étoffer, to put stuff in, to stuff, to line, also, OF. estouffer to stifle, F. étouffer; both perhaps of Teutonic origin, and akin to E. stop. Cf. Stop, v. t., Stuff, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Stuffed ; present participle & verbal noun Stuffing
Definitions
  1. To fill by crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess; as, to stuff a bedtick.
    Sometimes this crook drew hazel bought adown, And stuffed her apron wide with nuts so brown. Gay.
    Lest the gods, for sin, Should with a swelling dropsy stuff thy skin. Dryden.
  2. To thrust or crowd; to press; to pack.
    Put roses into a glass with a narrow mouth, stuffing them close together . . . and they retain smell and color. Bacon.
  3. To fill by being pressed or packed into.
    With inward arms the dire machine they load, And iron bowels stuff the dark abode. Dryden.
  4. (Cookery) To fill with a seasoning composition of bread, meat, condiments, etc.; as, to stuff a turkey.
  5. To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration.
    I'm stuffed, cousin; I can not smell. Shak.
  6. To fill the skin of, for the purpose of preserving as a specimen; -- said of birds or other animals.
  7. To form or fashion by packing with the necessary material.
    An Eastern king put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence, and ordered his hide to be stuffed into a cushion, and placed upon the tribunal. Swift.
  8. To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies.
  9. To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box). U. S.
Stuff intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To feed gluttonously; to cram.
    Taught harmless man to cram and stuff. Swift.

Webster 1913