The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced hisstuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
Without waiting for a reply, she unbound the veil from her head, and took off the loose black novice's robe, which she had put over a graystuff dress similar to that worn by Lucy.
1857,The National Magazine, volumes 10-11, page350:
"And you can buy a dress for your wife off this piece ofstuff," said Lisetta, who had always an eye to business.
1992, Hilary Mantel,A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, page147:
She was going out to buy some lengths of good woollenstuff for Louise's winter dresses.
It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless.[…]You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentarystuff.”
2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, inThe Economist[1], volume408, number8847:
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although thestuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).
For some idiotic reason the bureaucrats are more opposed to tea than tostuff.
1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount,Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use, page47:
For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buystuff and get off just before getting sick.
But the Butcher turned nervous, and dressed himself fine, / With yellow kid gloves and a ruff— / Said he felt it exactly like going to dine, / Which the Bellman declared was all "stuff."
1785,Pamphlets on British Shipping. 1785-1861, page36:
The master, at my earnest solicitation, examined his vessel, and though he prefers the coal tar, yet he told me, there were shells sticking on, and that a very thin coat ofstuff, if any, remained.
1822, William Annesley,A New System of Naval Architecture, page31:
On the last transverse planking, after: caulking and paying, he has laid on a coat ofstuff, so hard when cold aš to resist a firm touch, and applied plain paper, then took heated band irons (such as women use) , and passed the iron from the centre of the sheet to the extremities, thus heating thestuff to make it adhere, pressing out the air, and laying it all flat and united with the course.
2012, Thomas Williams,American Honor: The Story of Admiral Charles Stewart, page561:
While the ships were placed in ordinary “a thick coat ofstuff” was applied to the hulls, and their awnings might be spread or sheds erected to provide some protection from sun and weather.
The textile sense is increasingly specialized and sounds dated in everyday contexts. In the UK and Commonwealth it designates the cloth from which legal and academic gowns are made, except for the gowns of Queen's/King's/State Counsel, which are (often in contradistinction) made ofsilk.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Lest the gods, for sin, / Should with a swelling dropsystuff thy skin.
(transitive) Tofill a space with (something) in a compressed manner.
Hestuffed his clothes into the closet and shut the door.
1627 (indicated as1626),Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, inSylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries.[…], London:[…]William Rawley[…];[p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee[…],→OCLC:
Put them [roses] into a[…] glass, with narrow mouths,stuffing them close together[…] and [they] retain[…] smell[…][and] colour.
The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were allstuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and should never be mentioned in modern circles.
It's our life you're taking, you're making us poor, you have no right, these slaves are ours, until Marie wanted to fill their mouths with cotton, all the cotton that had ever been picked by their slaves, juststuff it down their mouths until they were as fat and soft as the huge pillows they slept on while their slaves slept on hard boards and straw in filthy rat-infested cabins.
His wife came home early and found him on the couchstuffing the maid.
(transitive, mildly vulgar, often imperative)Used to contemptuously dismiss or reject something.See alsostuff it.
Stuff your stupid rules, I'll do what I like.
2009, Matthew Hall,The Coroner, Pan Macmillan,→ISBN,page218:
Jenny nodded in sympathy, spotting Ali's new iPod speakers sitting on top of the TV. Simone smiled and coughed. 'He forgot to take them with him. He canstuff it, it was my money.'
2009, Tom Holt,Here Comes The Sun, Hachette UK,→ISBN,page80:
'Well,' she said, 'you can take your job and you canstuff it, because...' She stopped dead. 'My God,' she whispered, 'I've been wanting to say that to somebody all my life, and now I actually have. Whee!' She pulled herself together, straightened her back and picked up her handbag. 'Sorry,' she said, 'but I'm through.'
2015, Chris Dunning,About a Village Boy: A memoir, Troubador Publishing,→ISBN,page91:
And it rained everyday[sic] and the seas were rough everyday and I felt ill everyday and I thought, if this is sailing you canstuff it!
(informal) To heavily defeat or get the better of.
Mudchester Rovers werestuffed 7–0 in the semi-final.
They totallystuffed us in that business deal.
(transitive) Tocut off another competitor in a race by disturbing his projected and committed racing line (trajectory) by an abrupt manoeuvre.
I gotstuffed by that guy on the supermoto going into that turn, almost causing us to crash.
Topreserve a dead bird or other animal by filling its skin.
(transitive) To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.