stuff

• 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.
• 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 his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face....

1. (obsolete, uncountable) Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.

   • and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff. - 1611, Bible, 1 Samuel 25:13, KJV:
   • He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff. - 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI:

• I had to do some stuff.

• Near-synonyms: constituents, ingredients; see also Thesaurus:substance
• The workman on his stuff his skill doth show, / And yet the stuff gives not the man his skill. - 1697, John Davies, A Poem on the Immortality of the Soul:
• Pound an onion, warm a spoonful of ghee and throw in the onion, brown it slightly, add your curry stuff, brown this till it smells pleasantly, […] - 1887, Indian Cookery "Local" for Young Housekeepers: Second Edition,...

Synonyms: matter substance constituents ingredients corporeity body mass material stuff

1. (archaic) A material for making clothing; any woven textile, but especially a woollen fabric.

   • 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 gray stuff dress similar to that worn by Lucy. - 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth]...
   • "And you can buy a dress for your wife off this piece of stuff," said Lisetta, who had always an eye to business. - 1857, The National Magazine, volumes 10-11, page 350:
   • She was going out to buy some lengths of good woollen stuff for Louise's winter dresses. - 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, page 147:

   Synonyms: matter substance constituents ingredients corporeity body mass material stuff

2. (archaic) Boards used for building.

   Synonyms: matter substance constituents ingredients corporeity body mass material stuff

3. Abstract/figurative substance or character.

   • When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; / Ambition should be made of sterner stuff - 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
   • We are such stuff / As dreams are made on - c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4, scene 1, 156–157::

   Synonyms: matter substance constituents ingredients corporeity body mass material stuff

4. Paper stock ground ready for use. When partly ground, it is called half stuff.

   Synonyms: matter substance constituents ingredients corporeity body mass material stuff

• Can I have some of that stuff on my ice-cream sundae?
• 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...
• The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff 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...

Synonyms: doodad thingamabob Sorted by number of Google hits widget hickey gizmo thingy gimmick thingie jigger gismo gubbins whatsit thingamajig whatchamacallit doohickey thingo thingummy whatsis thingumajig thingumabob whatchacallit Sorted alphabetically affair

• For some idiotic reason the bureaucrats are more opposed to tea than to stuff. - 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 11 March:
• For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buy stuff and get off just before getting sick. - 1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount, Sociocultural...

Synonyms: dope gear recreational drug drug horse stuff substance

• I[…]did compound for her / A certaine ſtuffe, which being tane, would ceaſe / The preſent powre of life[…]. - 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William...

• Don't give me any of that 'what-about' stuff!
• Anger would indite / Such woeful stuff as I or Shadwell write. - 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The First Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius...
• 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." - 1874–1876 (date written),...

Synonyms: garbage rubbish nonsense stuff and nonsense cultch crap debris dreck drek gash junk litter pelf piece of crap piece of garbage piece of shit pile of crap pile of shit piece of trash refuse roughage service item shit stuff

• 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 of stuff, if any, remained. - 1785, Pamphlets on...
• On the last transverse planking, after: caulking and paying, he has laid on a coat of stuff, so hard when cold aš to resist a firm touch, and applied plain paper, then took heated band irons (such as women use) , and...
• While the ships were placed in ordinary “a thick coat of stuff” was applied to the hulls, and their awnings might be spread or sheds erected to provide some protection from sun and weather. - 2012, Thomas Williams,...

• I'm going to stuff this pillow with feathers.
• Lest the gods, for sin, / Should with a swelling dropsy stuff thy skin. - 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus...

• He stuffed his clothes into the closet and shut the door.
• Put them [roses] into a[…] glass, with narrow mouths, stuffing them close together […] and [they] retain[…] smell […][and] colour. - 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to...
• The Rabbit could not claim to be a model of anything, for he didn’t know that real rabbits existed; he thought they were all stuffed with sawdust like himself, and he understood that sawdust was quite out-of-date and...

• She stuffed the turkey for Thanksgiving using her secret recipe.

• I’m stuffed after having eaten all that turkey, mashed potatoes and delicious stuffing.

• She sits on the sofa all day, watching TV and stuffing herself with cream buns.

Synonyms: fill one's face feed one's face stuff one's face

• He skidded off the road and totally stuffed his brand new car.

• His wife came home early and found him on the couch stuffing the maid.

Synonyms: fuck root screw

• Stuff your stupid rules, I'll do what I like.
• 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 can stuff it, it was my money.' - 2009, Matthew Hall, The Coroner, Pan...
• 'Well,' she said, 'you can take your job and you can stuff 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...

• Mudchester Rovers were stuffed 7–0 in the semi-final.
• They totally stuffed us in that business deal.

• I got stuffed by that guy on the supermoto going into that turn, almost causing us to crash.

• KANG: When I take this ship, I'll have Kirk's head stuffed and hung on his cabin wall. // MARA: They will kill us before we can act. // KANG: No, they wish to question us, learn our strength, our plans. They never will....