stiffenv.
/ˈstɪf(ə)n/ To make or become stiff or stiffer.
1.
a. transitive. To make stiff or rigid, e.g. by means of starch (†also absol.), or by the addition of a lining or a support.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > hardness > types of hardness > [verb (transitive)] > make stiff or rigid
stivea1375
stiff1486
stent1488
stiffen1622
rigidify1842
stark1862
rigidize1936
1622 in Chron. Perth etc. (Maitland Club) 87 Margaret Melling apprehended for stiffning ruffs and overlays on a Sunday.
1624 J. Taylor Praise Cleane Linnen in Wks. (1630) ii. 169/1 She wrings, she folds, she pleits, she smoothes, she starches, She stiffens, poakes, and sets and dryes againe.
1862 J. Ruskin Unto this Last ii. 65 The sands of the Indus and adamant of Golconda may yet stiffen the housings of the charger.
1885 Mag. Art Sept. 459/1 A circular plate of thin wrought bronze, stiffened round the edge by a beading.
1892 Proc. Royal Soc. 52 347 The strips have a great tendency to warp, and..may be stiffened by sheet brass let into a slot on the under side.
b. Nautical. To increase the initial stability of a ship; to render less liable to heel. See stiff adj. 7.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > shipbuilding and repairing > build a ship [verb (transitive)] > give stability to
stiffen1707
stabilize1861
1707 E. Ward Wooden World Dissected 22 Those strong unexpected Turneroes..most certainly overset him, if he be not ready stiffen'd with Peru Ballast.
1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) III. 272/1 Sixty tons of cargo will stiffen the most cranky vessel.
2.
a. To render stiff in consistency; to thicken, coagulate.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > state of being thick enough to retain form > give consistency to [verb (transitive)] > make stiff or hard in consistency or set
stiffen1627
clang1631
set1736
1627 T. May tr. Lucan Pharsalia (new ed.) iii. E 6 b Dy'd is the Ocean, And the waues stiffen'd with congealed blood.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture 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.
a1774 O. Goldsmith Surv. Exper. Philos. (1776) I. 348 The polar oceans being almost continually stiffened into ice.
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 252 The plastic condition of the language..not as yet stiffened by conventional rules.
b. intransitive. To become stiff in consistency; to harden. Also figurative with constr. into: To assume a more definite or permanent form or character.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > state of being thick enough to retain form > be thick enough to retain form [verb (intransitive)] > become stiff in consistency
stiffen1697
the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > stability, fixity > be stable [verb (intransitive)] > become stable
stable1399
stiffen1856
stabilize1961
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals vi, in tr. Virgil Wks. 28 The tender Soil then stiffning by degrees, Shut from the bounded Earth, the bounding Seas.
1818 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory (ed. 2) iii. 732 Stir until the mixture stiffens in cooling.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. II. 35 These things which in their proper nature are but illustrations, stiffen into essential fact.
1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxiv. 410 The ‘landsitting men’ of Salisbury easily stiffened into the tenants-in-chief of the Great Charter.
1883 Fortn. Rev. Feb. 242 But gradually the favour will stiffen into a right.
3.
a. transitive. To make more steadfast, unyielding, or obstinate; Military to increase the fighting value of a force by the admixture of soldiers of better quality.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > make obstinate or stubborn [verb (transitive)]
obstinatea1450
stiffen?a1500
obfirm1570
obfirmate1616
stubborn1820
the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [verb (transitive)] > increase in strength or force
afforce1425
forcec1430
reforcec1450
fortify1470
reinforcec1485
stiffen?a1500
strengthen1548
toughen1582
invigorate1646
hardena1677
recruit1678
emphasize1800
bastion1822
beef1941
the mind > will > decision > constancy or steadfastness > adhere constantly or steadfastly to [verb (transitive)] > make steadfast
strongOE
strengthc1200
stablea1300
resolvea1398
sadc1400
nourish?a1425
settle1435
pitha1500
stiffen?a1500
steel1581
toughen1582
ballastc1600
efforta1661
fix1671
balance1685
to fix the mercury1704
instrengthen1855
to put stuffing into1977
society > armed hostility > military operations > distribution of troops > [verb (transitive)] > reinforce > with better troops
stiffen1883
?a1500 Chester 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.
1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. 39 He thus stiff'neth mine enemies still against me.
a1677 I. Barrow Wks. (1686) III. 189 So doth the man become incorrigible, who is setled and stiffened in vice.
1715 M. Davies Εἰκων Μικρο-βιβλικὴ 221 His Confessor and Emissary, to plod about, for to stiffen others in the old Romish Superstitions.
1883 Broad Arrow xxxi. 609 Foreign levies have been ‘stiffened’ before now by volunteers from other countries.
1898 Daily News 22 Feb. 5/2 The Home Secretary wants stiffening, and the House of Commons ought to stiffen him.
b. intransitive. To become hard or unyielding in temper.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > be or become obstinate or stubborn [verb (intransitive)] > be or become inflexible
harden1577
stiffen1732
1732 D. Neal Hist. Puritans I. Pref. p. vi The Bishops stiffened in their behaviour,..and became too severe against their Dissenting brethren.
1914 Daily News 12 Jan. 8 Military opinion has..stiffened in the last three weeks.
4.
a. transitive. To make rigid; to take away the natural suppleness or mobility of (the limbs, joints, muscles, etc.). Also figurative; slang to make a corpse of, kill; Horse Racing, to prevent a horse from doing its best to win.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders affecting muscles > affect with muscular disorder [verb (transitive)] > affect with stiffness
forclutcha1300
stiffen?1611
cramp1639
becramp1655
the world > life > death > killing > kill [verb (transitive)]
swevec725
quelmeOE
slayc893
quelleOE
of-falleOE
ofslayeOE
aquellc950
ayeteeOE
spillc950
beliveOE
to bring (also do) of (one's) life-dayOE
fordoa1000
forfarea1000
asweveOE
drepeOE
forleseOE
martyrOE
to do (also i-do, draw) of lifeOE
bringc1175
off-quellc1175
quenchc1175
forswelta1225
adeadc1225
to bring of daysc1225
to do to deathc1225
to draw (a person) to deathc1225
murder?c1225
aslayc1275
forferec1275
to lay to ground, to earth (Sc. at eird)c1275
martyrc1300
strangle1303
destroya1325
misdoa1325
killc1330
tailc1330
to take the life of (also fro)c1330
enda1340
to kill to (into, unto) death1362
brittena1375
deadc1374
to ding to deathc1380
mortifya1382
perisha1387
to dight to death1393
colea1400
fella1400
kill out (away, down, up)a1400
to slay up or downa1400
swelta1400
voida1400
deliverc1400
starvec1425
jugylc1440
morta1450
to bring to, on, or upon (one's) bierc1480
to put offc1485
to-slaya1500
to make away with1502
to put (a person or thing) to silencec1503
rida1513
to put downa1525
to hang out of the way1528
dispatch?1529
strikea1535
occidea1538
to firk to death, (out) of lifec1540
to fling to deathc1540
extinct1548
to make out of the way1551
to fet offa1556
to cut offc1565
to make away?1566
occise1575
spoil1578
senda1586
to put away1588
exanimate1593
unmortalize1593
speed1594
unlive1594
execute1597
dislive1598
extinguish1598
to lay along1599
to make hence1605
conclude1606
kill off1607
disanimate1609
feeze1609
to smite, stab in, under the fifth rib1611
to kill dead1615
transporta1616
spatch1616
to take off1619
mactate1623
to make meat of1632
to turn up1642
inanimate1647
pop1649
enecate1657
cadaverate1658
expedite1678
to make dog's meat of1679
to make mincemeat of1709
sluice1749
finisha1753
royna1770
still1778
do1780
deaden1807
deathifyc1810
to lay out1829
cool1833
to use up1833
puckeroo1840
to rub out1840
cadaverize1841
to put under the sod1847
suicide1852
outkill1860
to fix1875
to put under1879
corpse1884
stiffen1888
tip1891
to do away with1899
to take out1900
stretch1902
red-light1906
huff1919
to knock rotten1919
skittle1919
liquidate1924
clip1927
to set over1931
creasea1935
ice1941
lose1942
to put to sleep1942
zap1942
hit1955
to take down1967
wax1968
trash1973
ace1975
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > racing or race > horse racing > ride horse in race [verb (transitive)] > actions of rider
bore1677
jostle1723
pinch1740
pull1781
rope1854
screw1855
corner1861
ride1863
ready1887
poach1891
nurse1893
to ask (a horse) the question1894
stiffen1900
shoo1908
rate1946
stop1954
niggle1963
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads iv. 172 The haire stood vp on end On Agamemnon,..And stifned with the like dismay, was Menelaus to.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. i. 7 Stiffen the sinewes, commune [sic] vp the blood. View more context for this quotation
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 177. ⁋3 I began to find my mind contracted and stiffened by solitude.
1798 S. T. Coleridge Recantation 46 His legs were stiffen'd with dismay.
1883 Manch. Examiner 30 Nov. 5/3 Considerations so powerful as these tend to stiffen the backs of the Chinese.
1888 Daily News 23 Nov. 7/2 Mr. Burgess threatened to blow my brains out and to ‘stiffen’ me.
1900 Westm. 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. intransitive. Of persons: To become stiff or rigid; also, to die. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > upright or erect posture > be in upright or erect position [verb (intransitive)] > become stiff
stiffen1714
poker1807
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > diseases of tissue > disorders affecting muscles > have disorder affecting muscles [verb (intransitive)] > become stiff
stiffen1714
the world > life > death > [verb (intransitive)]
forsweltc888
sweltc888
adeadeOE
deadc950
wendeOE
i-wite971
starveOE
witea1000
forfereOE
forthfareOE
forworthc1000
to go (also depart , pass, i-wite, chare) out of this worldOE
queleOE
fallOE
to take (also nim, underfo) (the) deathOE
to shed (one's own) blood?a1100
diec1135
endc1175
farec1175
to give up the ghostc1175
letc1200
aswelta1250
leavea1250
to-sweltc1275
to-worthc1275
to yield (up) the ghost (soul, breath, life, spirit)c1290
finea1300
spilla1300
part?1316
to leese one's life-daysa1325
to nim the way of deathc1325
to tine, leave, lose the sweatc1330
flit1340
trance1340
determinec1374
disperisha1382
to go the way of all the eartha1382
to be gathered to one's fathers1382
miscarryc1387
shut1390
goa1393
to die upa1400
expirea1400
fleea1400
to pass awaya1400
to seek out of lifea1400–50
to sye hethena1400
tinea1400
trespass14..
espirec1430
to end one's days?a1439
decease1439
to go away?a1450
ungoc1450
unlivec1450
to change one's lifea1470
vade1495
depart1501
to pay one's debt to (also the debt of) naturea1513
to decease this world1515
to go over?1520
jet1530
vade1530
to go westa1532
to pick over the perch1532
galpa1535
to die the death1535
to depart to God1548
to go home1561
mort1568
inlaikc1575
shuffle1576
finish1578
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
relent1587
unbreathe1589
transpass1592
to lose one's breath1596
to make a die (of it)1611
to go offa1616
fail1623
to go out1635
to peak over the percha1641
exita1652
drop1654
to knock offa1657
to kick upa1658
to pay nature her due1657
ghost1666
to march off1693
to die off1697
pike1697
to drop off1699
tip (over) the perch1699
to pass (also go, be called, etc.) to one's reward1703
sink1718
vent1718
to launch into eternity1719
to join the majority1721
demise1727
to pack off1735
to slip one's cable1751
turf1763
to move off1764
to pop off the hooks1764
to hop off1797
to pass on1805
to go to glory1814
sough1816
to hand in one's accounts1817
to slip one's breatha1819
croak1819
to slip one's wind1819
stiffen1820
weed1824
buy1825
to drop short1826
to fall (a) prey (also victim, sacrifice) to1839
to get one's (also the) call1839
to drop (etc.) off the hooks1840
to unreeve one's lifeline1840
to step out1844
to cash, pass or send in one's checks1845
to hand in one's checks1845
to go off the handle1848
to go under1848
succumb1849
to turn one's toes up1851
to peg out1852
walk1858
snuff1864
to go or be up the flume1865
to pass outc1867
to cash in one's chips1870
to go (also pass over) to the majority1883
to cash in1884
to cop it1884
snuff1885
to belly up1886
perch1886
to kick the bucket1889
off1890
to knock over1892
to pass over1897
to stop one1901
to pass in1904
to hand in one's marble1911
the silver cord is loosed1911
pip1913
to cross over1915
conk1917
to check out1921
to kick off1921
to pack up1925
to step off1926
to take the ferry1928
peg1931
to meet one's Maker1933
to kiss off1935
to crease it1959
zonk1968
cark1977
to cark it1979
to take a dirt nap1981
1714 E. Young Force of Relig. ii. 130 Fix'd in benumbing care, They stiffen into statues of despair.
1820 J. H. Reynolds Fancy (1906) 24 I wish'd you'd stiffen—that I might enclose Your royal limbs, and measure to the toes.
1859 C. Dickens Haunted House: Mortals in House in All Year Round Extra Christmas No.,13 Dec. 4/2 She [sc. a cataleptic] would stiffen,..on the most irrelevant occasions.
1912 J. L. Myres Dawn of Hist. x. 221 An indigenous culture which had passed its prime and was already stiffening.
5.
a. transitive. To make (a person) formal, cold, or constrained in manner; to make (an artistic composition) pedantic, laboured, or overloaded.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [verb (transitive)] > produce laboriously
stiffen1763
over-labour1797
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > discourtesy > treat discourteously [verb (transitive)] > treat with lack of affability > make reserved or formal in manner
starch1601
to ice over1741
stiffen1763
1763 W. Shenstone Let. to S. Davenport in 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.
1781 W. Cowper Table Talk 125 I pity Kings..Whom Education stiffens into state.
1863 W. E. Gladstone Let. 7 Oct. in J. Morley Life Gladstone (1903) II. v. vi. 103 The people are, one and all, very easy to get on with, and Windsor, I suppose, stiffens them a little.
b. intransitive. To become formal, cold, or constrained.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > discourtesy > be discourteous [verb (intransitive)] > not be affable
to make oneself strange1390
to make (it) strangec1405
to make (it) strange1598
to wait one's distance1600
to wait one's distance1642
starch1698
prim1721
to cast snowballs1725
to put on the stranger1809
to show the cold shoulder1816
stiffen1864
to play hard to get1929
1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 65 Sir Aylmer Aylmer slowly stiffening spoke.
6.
a. intransitive. Of prices, rates of interest, the market, etc.: To become stiffer (see stiff adj. 10, 19).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > fluctuation in price > steadiness in price > become steady [verb (intransitive)]
stiffen1855
1855 Poultry Chron. 3 407 Barley stiffens in value.
1883 Manch. Examiner 8 Dec. 4/1 There was a good demand both for discounts and advances and the rates stiffened up very sensibly.
b. transitive. To render (prices, etc.) stiffer.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > fluctuation in price > steadiness in price > make steady [verb (transitive)]
stiffen1883
1883 Daily News 1 Sept. 2/4 The efflux of gold..which would stiffen the short loan market.
1898 Daily News 20 June 9/5 Prices both of coal and iron have been stiffened.
7. intransitive. Of wind: To increase in strength or violence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > blow (of the wind) [verb (intransitive)] > blow strongly > increase
rise?1520
fresh1599
to come up1647
freshen1669
ascend1715
to get up1834
to blow up1840
stiffen1844
to breeze up1867
to pipe up1901
1844 T. Hood 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.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > travel in specific course or direction > direct one's course [verb (intransitive)] > of an ascent
stiffen1877
1877 Fraser's Mag. 16 152 The ascent stiffened.
Derivatives
ˈstiffened adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > hardness > types of hardness > [adjective] > stiff or rigid > stiffened
stiffed1565
stiffened1602
rigidified1847
rigidized1886
upstiffed1922
1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge i. iii. sig. B2 The iuyce of life Creepes slowly through my stifned arteries.
1896 S. J. Duncan His Honor & a Lady iii. 41 To lave his stiffened powers of artistic enjoyment in the beauties of the Parthenon.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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