stuff
/stʌf/ noun, verb
- noun (informal) Miscellaneous items or objects; (with possessive) personal effects. “What is all that stuff on your bedroom floor? He didn't want his pockets to bulge so he was walking around with all his stuff in his hands.”
- noun (obsolete, uncountable) Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.
- noun (informal) Unspecified things or matters. “I had to do some stuff.”
- noun The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object.
- noun (archaic) A material for making clothing; any woven textile, but especially a woollen fabric.
- noun (archaic) Boards used for building.
- noun Abstract/figurative substance or character.
- noun (paper-making, dated) Pulp; paper stock ground ready for use. When partly ground, it is called half stuff.
- verb (transitive) To fill by packing or crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess. “I'm going to stuff this pillow with feathers.”
- verb (transitive) To fill a space with (something) in a compressed manner. “He stuffed his clothes into the closet and shut the door.”
- verb (transitive, cooking) To fill with seasoning. “She stuffed the turkey for Thanksgiving using her secret recipe.”
- verb (transitive) To load goods into (a container) for transport.
- verb (transitive, used in the passive) To sate. “I’m stuffed after having eaten all that turkey, mashed potatoes and delicious stuffing.”
- verb (usually pronominal) To eat, especially in a hearty or greedy manner. “She sits on the sofa all day, watching TV and stuffing herself with cream buns.”
- verb (transitive, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To break; to destroy. “He skidded off the road and totally stuffed his brand new car.”
- verb (transitive, vulgar, UK, Australia, New Zealand) To sexually penetrate. “His wife came home early and found him on the couch stuffing the maid.”
Synonyms
matter substance constituents ingredients corporeity body mass material doodad thingamabob Sorted by number of Google hits widget hickey gizmo thingy gimmick thingie jigger gismo gubbins clobber stuff and nonsense hooey poppycock thrust shove squeeze lug choke up block
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English stuf, stuffe, from Anglo-Latin stuffa and its etymon Old French estofe, estoffe, estuf, estuffe, stoffe, from estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), borrowed from Old High German stoffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to clog up, block, fill”). More at stop.
From Middle English stuffen (“to equip, furnish”), borrowed from Old French estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), borrowed from Old High German stoffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to clog up, block, fill”). More at stop.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Material which is to be worked up in any process of manufacture.
- noun The fundamental material of which anything is made up; elemental part; essence.
- verb To fill by crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess; as, to stuff a bedtick.
- verb To thrust or crowd; to press; to pack.
Etymology [OF. estoffe, F. étoffe; of uncertain origin, perhaps of Teutonic origin and akin to E. stop, v.t. Cf. Stuff, v. t.]
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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stuff”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details