stuff
pronunciation
How to pronounce stuff in British English:
UK [stʌf]
How to pronounce stuff in American English:
US [stʌf]
-
- Noun:
- the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
- miscellaneous unspecified objects
- informal terms for personal possessions
- senseless talk
- unspecified qualities required to do or be something
- information in some unspecified form
- a critically important or characteristic component
-
- Verb:
- fill completely
- press or force
- obstruct
- overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself
- treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting
- fill tightly with a material
- fill with a stuffing while cooking
Word Origin
- stuff
- stuff: [14] Stuff is ultimately the same word as stop. It comes via Old French estoffer and prehistoric Germanic *stopfōn, earlier *stoppōn (source of English stop), from late Latin stuppāre ‘plug, stop up’. This originally denoted literally ‘stop up a hole with a plug of coarse fibres’, for it was derived from Latin stuppa ‘coarse fibres, tow’, a borrowing from Greek stúppē. The noun stuff comes from Old French estoffe ‘provisions’, a derivative of estoffer.=> stop
- stuff (n.)
- early 14c., "quilted material worn under chain mail," from Old French estoffe "quilted material, furniture, provisions" (Modern French étoffe), from estoffer "to equip or stock," which according to French sources is from Old High German stopfon "to plug, stuff," or from a related Frankish word (see stop (v.)), but OED has "strong objections" to this. Sense extended to material for working with in various trades (c. 1400), then "matter of an unspecified kind" (1570s). Meaning "narcotic, dope, drug" is attested from 1929. To know (one's) stuff "have a grasp on a subject" is recorded from 1927.
- stuff (v.)
- mid-14c., "furnish with" (goods, provisions, etc.), also "reinforce" (troops), from Old French estofer "pad, upholster, fit out" (Modern French étoffer), from estoffe, and probably also in part from stuff (n.). From c. 1400 as "fill, cram full; fill (the belly) with food or drink, gorge;" from early 15c. as "to clog" (the sinuses, etc.); from late 14c. as "fill (a mattress, etc.) with padding, line with padding;" also in the cookery sense, in reference to filing the interior of a pastry or the cavity of a fowl or beast. The ballot-box sense is attested from 1854, American English; in expressions of contempt and suggestive of bodily orifices, it dates from 1952.
Example
- 1. And you can leave stuff here .
- 2. But working with the stuff can be an environmental nightmare .
- 3. Don 't blame hotel staff for stealing your stuff .
- 4. He shouldn 't palm such stuff on you .
- 5. These " solutions " to house more stuff than you actually need are pricey .