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STUFF
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Miscellaneous unspecified objects
Example:
the trunk was full of stuff
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stuff"):
doodad; doohickey; doojigger; gimmick; gismo; gizmo; gubbins; thingamabob; thingamajig; thingmabob; thingmajig; thingumabob; thingumajig; thingummy; whatchamacallit; whatchamacallum; whatsis; widget (something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known)
etcetera (additional unspecified odds and ends; more of the same)
sundries (miscellaneous objects too numerous or too small to be specified)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Unspecified qualities required to do or be something
Example:
you don't have the stuff to be a United States Marine
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A critically important or characteristic component
Example:
suspense is the very stuff of narrative
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
center; centre; core; essence; gist; heart; heart and soul; inwardness; kernel; marrow; meat; nitty-gritty; nub; pith; substance; sum (the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Senseless talk
Example:
don't give me that stuff
Synonyms:
hooey; poppycock; stuff; stuff and nonsense
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
bunk; hokum; meaninglessness; nonsense; nonsensicality (a message that seems to convey no meaning)
Domain usage:
argot; cant; jargon; lingo; patois; slang; vernacular (a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves))
Sense 5
Meaning:
Information in some unspecified form
Example:
there's good stuff in that book
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
info; information (a message received and understood)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Informal terms for personal possessions
Example:
did you take all your clobber?
Synonyms:
clobber; stuff
Classified under:
Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
personal estate; personal property; personalty; private property (movable property (as distinguished from real estate))
Sense 7
Meaning:
The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object
Example:
wheat is the stuff they use to make bread
Synonyms:
material; stuff
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("stuff" is a kind of...):
substance (the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "stuff"):
contaminant; contamination (a substance that contaminates)
particulate; particulate matter (a small discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions (usually considered to be an atmospheric pollutant))
dust (free microscopic particles of solid material)
elastomer (any of various elastic materials that resemble rubber (resumes its original shape when a deforming force is removed))
earth; ground (the loose soft material that makes up a large part of the land surface)
discharge; emission (a substance that is emitted or released)
detritus (loose material (stone fragments and silt etc) that is worn away from rocks)
waste; waste material; waste matter; waste product (any materials unused and rejected as worthless or unwanted)
fiber; fibre (a slender and greatly elongated substance capable of being spun into yarn)
fill; filling (any material that fills a space or container)
foam (a lightweight material in cellular form; made by introducing gas bubbles during manufacture)
homogenate (material that has been homogenized (especially tissue that has been ground and mixed))
humate (material that is high in humic acids)
impregnation (material with which something is impregnated)
paper (a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses)
packing; packing material; wadding (any material used especially to protect something)
color; coloring material; colour; colouring material (any material used for its color)
plant material; plant substance (material derived from plants)
radioactive material (material that is radioactive)
thickener; thickening (any material used to thicken)
toner (a black or colored powder used in a printer to develop a xerographic image)
translucent substance; transparent substance (a material having the property of admitting light diffusely; a partly transparent material)
undercut (the material removed by a cut made underneath)
builder; detergent builder (a substance added to soaps or detergents to increase their cleansing action)
vernix; vernix caseosa (a white cheeselike protective material that covers the skin of a fetus)
wad (a small mass of soft material)
ballast (any heavy material used to stabilize a ship or airship)
bedding; bedding material; litter (material used to provide a bed for animals)
rind (the natural outer covering of food (usually removed before eating))
recycling (used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products)
precursor (a substance from which another substance is formed (especially by a metabolic reaction))
atom; corpuscle; molecule; mote; particle; speck ((nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything)
ammunition (any nuclear or chemical or biological material that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction)
floc; floccule (a small loosely aggregated mass of flocculent material suspended in or precipitated from a liquid)
HAZMAT (an abbreviation for 'hazardous material' used on warning signs)
aggregate (material such as sand or gravel used with cement and water to make concrete, mortar, or plaster)
raw material; staple (material suitable for manufacture or use or finishing)
sorbate (a material that has been or is capable of being taken up by another substance by either absorption or adsorption)
sorbent; sorbent material (a material that sorbs another substance; i.e. that has the capacity or tendency to take it up by either absorption or adsorption)
dielectric; insulator; nonconductor (a material such as glass or porcelain with negligible electrical or thermal conductivity)
conductor (a substance that readily conducts e.g. electricity and heat)
composite material (strong lightweight material developed in the laboratory; fibers of more than one kind are bonded together chemically)
chemical; chemical substance (material produced by or used in a reaction involving changes in atoms or molecules)
abradant; abrasive; abrasive material (a substance that abrades or wears down)
bimetal (material made by bonding together sheets of two different metals)
fluff (any light downy material)
animal material (material derived from animals)
sealing material (any substance used to seal joints or fill cracks in a porous surface)
adhesive; adhesive agent; adhesive material (a substance that unites or bonds surfaces together)
rock; stone (material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust)
mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)
diamagnet (a substance that exhibits diamagnetism)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they stuff ... he / she / it stuffs
Past simple: stuffed
Past participle: stuffed
-ing form: stuffing
Sense 1
Meaning:
Fill with a stuffing while cooking
Example:
Have you stuffed the turkey yet?
Synonyms:
farce; stuff
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)
Verb group:
stuff (fill tightly with a material)
Domain category:
cookery; cooking; preparation (the act of preparing something (as food) by the application of heat)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something
Derivation:
stuffing (a mixture of seasoned ingredients used to stuff meats and vegetables)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Fill tightly with a material
Example:
stuff a pillow with feathers
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)
Verb group:
farce; stuff (fill with a stuffing while cooking)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stuff"):
cork (stuff with cork)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something
Derivation:
stuffer (a craftsman who stuffs and mounts the skins of animals for display)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Treat with grease, fill, and prepare for mounting
Example:
stuff a bearskin
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
impregnate; saturate (infuse or fill completely)
"Stuff" entails doing...:
tan (treat skins and hides with tannic acid so as to convert them into leather)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s something
Sense 4
Meaning:
Overeat or eat immodestly; make a pig of oneself
Example:
The kids binged on ice cream
Synonyms:
binge; englut; engorge; glut; gorge; gormandise; gormandize; gourmandize; ingurgitate; overeat; overgorge; overindulge; pig out; satiate; scarf out; stuff
Classified under:
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
eat (eat a meal; take a meal)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s PP
Sense 5
Meaning:
Obstruct
Example:
Her arteries are blocked
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
back up; choke; choke off; clog; clog up; congest; foul (become or cause to become obstructed)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Antonym:
unstuff (cause to become unblocked)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Cram into a cavity
Example:
The child stuffed candy into his pockets
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
cram (put something somewhere so that the space is completely filled)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "stuff"):
chock up; cram; jam; jampack; ram; wad (crowd or pack to capacity)
overstuff (stuff too much)
fill out; pad (line or stuff with soft material)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something
Sentence example:
They stuff the cart with boxes
Sense 7
Meaning:
Press or force
Example:
She thrust the letter into his hand
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "stuff" is one way to...):
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP
Sentence example:
They stuff the books into the box
Context examples:
And that is what really is the key stuff to make it sound nice, he said.
(Does Our Galaxy Sound Like Funky Blues Music?, George Putic/VOA)
Common symptoms of ear barotrauma include: • Pain • A feeling that your ears are stuffed • Hearing loss • Dizziness
(Barotrauma, NIH)
Administration by way of food stuff.
(Dietary Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)
"What do you call this stuff?" he asked, touching a fold of her dress that had blown over his knee.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Mine is famous good stuff, to be sure.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Phoo! phoo! cried the Admiral, what stuff these young fellows talk!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
It was at such a moment that I learned the stuff of which my three comrades were composed.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was a small pyramid of black, putty-like stuff, exactly like the one upon the table of the study.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Every pocket stuffed with pennies and half-pennies—421 pennies and 270 half-pennies.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She looked at me with evident suspicion: "Nay, she never sold stuff i' that way."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
