| 释义 |
stiffen, v.|ˈstɪf(ə)n|
[f. stiff a. + -en5.]
To make or become stiff or stiffer.
1. trans. To make stiff or rigid, e.g. by means of starch († also absol.), or by the addition of a lining or a support.
1622in Chron. Perth etc. (Maitl. Club) 87 Margaret Melling apprehended for stiffning ruffs and overlays on a Sunday. 1624J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Cl. Linen Wks. (1630) ii. 169/1 She wrings, she folds, she pleits, she smoothes, she starches, She stiffens, poakes, and sets and dryes againe. 1860Ruskin Unto this Last ii. §41 The sands of the Indus and adamant of Golconda may yet stiffen the housings of the charger. 1885Mag. of Art Sept. 459/1 A circular plate of thin wrought bronze, stiffened round the edge by a beading. 1892Proc. Roy. Soc. LII. 347 The strips have a great tendency to warp, and..may be stiffened by sheet brass let into a slot on the under side.
b. Naut. To increase the initial stability of a ship; to render less liable to heel. See stiff a. 7.
1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 22 Those strong unexpected Turnadoes..most certainly overset him, if he be not ready stiffen'd with Peru Ballast. 1861Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 272 Sixty tons of cargo will stiffen the most cranky vessel.
2. To render stiff in consistency; to thicken, coagulate.
1627May Lucan iii. E 6 b, Dy'd is the Ocean, And the waues stiffen'd with congealed blood. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 58a, Allow one part of Mortar to three of Rubbish..; and when it is laid, the way to stiffen it, is to pound it heartily with the Rammer. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) I. 348 The polar oceans being almost continually stiffened into ice. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 252 The plastic condition of the language..not as yet stiffened by conventional rules.
b. intr. To become stiff in consistency; to harden. Also fig. with constr. into: To assume a more definite or permanent form or character.
1697Dryden Virg. Past. vi. 53 The tender Soil then stiffning by degrees, Shut from the bounded Earth, the bounding Seas. 1811A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 732 Stir until the mixture stiffens in cooling. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. II. 35 These things which in their proper nature are but illustrations, stiffen into essential fact. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 410 The ‘landsitting men’ of Salisbury easily stiffened into the tenants-in-chief of the Great Charter. 1883Fortn. Rev. Feb. 242 But gradually the favour will stiffen into a right.
3. trans. To make more steadfast, unyielding, or obstinate; Mil. to increase the fighting value of a force by the admixture of soldiers of better quality.
a1500Chester Pl., Emiss. Holy Ghost (Shaks. Soc.) II. 130 Nowe will I sende..My ghoste to glade them graciously,..That the[y] maie stiffned be theirby. 1632Sanderson Serm. (1681) 26 He thus stiffneth mine enemies still against me. a1677Barrow Wks. (1686) III. Serm. xvi. 189 So doth the man become incorrigible, who is settled and stiffened in vice. 1716M. Davies Athen. Brit. i. 221 His Confessor and Emissary, to plod about, for to stiffen others in the old Romish Superstitions. 1883Broad Arrow xxxi. 609 Foreign levies have been ‘stiffened’ before now by volunteers from other countries. 1898Daily News 22 Feb. 5/2 The Home Secretary wants stiffening, and the House of Commons ought to stiffen him.
b. intr. To become hard or unyielding in temper.
1732Neal Hist. Purit. I. Pref. p. vi, The Bishops stiffened in their behaviour,..and became too severe against their Dissenting brethren. 1914Daily News 12 Jan. 8 Military opinion has..stiffened in the last three weeks.
4. trans. To make rigid; to take away the natural suppleness or mobility of (the limbs, joints, muscles, etc.). Also fig.; slang to make a corpse of, kill; Horse-racing, to prevent a horse from doing its best to win.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, iii. i. 7 Stiffen the sinewes, commune [sic] vp the blood. c1611Chapman Iliad iv. 172 The haire stood vp on end On Agamemnon,..And stifned with the like dismay, was Menelaus to. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 177 ⁋3, I began to find my mind contracted and stiffened by solitude. 1798Coleridge Recant. 46 His legs were stiffen'd with dismay. 1883Manch. Exam. 30 Nov. 5/3 Considerations so powerful as these tend to stiffen the backs of the Chinese. 1888Daily News 23 Nov. 7/2 Mr. Burgess threatened to blow my brains out and to ‘stiffen’ me. 1900Westm. Gaz. 19 Dec. 12/1 Many popular country race⁓courses have been given up almost entirely to card-sharpers, because the public know that the horses are stiffened.
b. intr. Of persons: To become stiff or rigid; also, to die. Also fig.
1714Young Force Relig. ii. 130 Fix'd in benumbing care, They stiffen into statues of despair. 1820J. H. Reynolds Fancy (1906) 24, I wish'd you'd stiffen—that I might enclose Your royal limbs, and measure to the toes. 1859Dickens Christmas Stories, Haunted Ho. i, She [a cataleptic] would stiffen,..on the most irrelevant occasions. 1912J. L. Myres Dawn of Hist. x. 221 An indigenous culture which had passed its prime and was already stiffening.
5. trans. To make (a person) formal, cold, or constrained in manner; to make (an artistic composition) pedantic, laboured, or overloaded.
1763Shenstone Let. to S. Davenport Wks. 1777 III. 347 True taste will never stiffen or over-charge any performance: it will rather be employed to smoothe, simplify, and give that ease on which grace depends. 1781Cowper Table-T. 125, I pity Kings..Whom Education stiffens into state. 1863Gladstone in Morley Life v. vi. (1903) II. 103 The people are, one and all, very easy to get on with, and Windsor, I suppose, stiffens them a little.
b. intr. To become formal, cold, or constrained.
1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 273 Sir Aylmer Aylmer slowly stiffening spoke.
6. a. intr. Of prices, rates of interest, the market, etc.: To become stiffer (see stiff a. 10 and 19). b. trans. To render (prices, etc.) stiffer.
1855Poultry Chron. III. 407 Barley stiffens in value. 1883Daily News 1 Sept. 2/4 The efflux of gold..which would stiffen the short loan market. 1883Manch. Exam. 8 Dec. 4/1 There was a good demand both for discounts and advances and the rates stiffened up very sensibly. 1898Daily News 20 June 9/5 Prices both of coal and iron have been stiffened.
7. intr. Of wind: To increase in strength or violence.
1844Hood Captain's Cow 111 A breeze again began to rise, That stiffen'd to a gale.
8. Of an ascent: To become more steep or difficult.
1877Fraser's Mag. XVI. 152 The ascent stiffened.
Hence ˈstiffened ppl. a.
1602Marston Antonio's Rev. i. iii, The juice of life Creepes slowly through my stifned arteries. 1896S. J. Duncan His Honor & a Lady iii. 41 To lave his stiffened powers of artistic enjoyment in the beauties of the Parthenon. |