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say it: stif
stiff is an adjective, noun and adverb meaning "not moving or operating freely". It carries 11 recorded senses.
having a strong physiological or chemical effect
“a potent toxin”
“potent liquor”
“a potent cup of tea”
“a stiff drink”
marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable
“firm convictions”
“a firm mouth”
“steadfast resolve”
“a man of unbendable perseverence”
“unwavering loyalty”
incapable of or resistant to bending
“a rigid strip of metal”
“a table made of rigid plastic”
“a palace guardsman stiff as a poker”
“stiff hair”
“a stiff neck”
the dead body of a human being
“the cadaver was intended for dissection”
“the end of the police search was the discovery of a corpse”
“the murderer confessed that he threw the stiff in the river”
“honor comes to bless the turf that wraps their clay”
slang
extremely
“bored stiff”
“frightened stiff”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for stiff come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.