stiff

  • (noun): An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education, often a working stiff or lucky stiff.
  • (noun): A person who is deceived, as a mark or pigeon in a swindle.
  • (noun): A cadaver; a dead person.
  • (noun): A flop; a commercial failure.
  • (noun): A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill.
  • (noun): (by extension) A customer who does not leave a tip.
  • (noun): Any hard hand where it is possible to exceed 21 by drawing an additional card.
  • (noun): Negotiable instruments, possibly forged.
  • (verb): To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.
  • (verb): To cheat someone
  • (verb): To tip ungenerously
  • (adjective): (of an object) Rigid; hard to bend; inflexible.
  • (adjective): (of policies and rules and their application and enforcement) Inflexible; rigid.
  • (adjective): (of a person) Formal in behavior; unrelaxed.
  • (adjective): Harsh, severe.
  • (adjective): (of muscles or parts of the body) Painful as a result of excessive or unaccustomed exercise.
  • (adjective): Potent.
  • (adjective): Dead, deceased.
  • (adjective): (of a penis) Erect.
  • (adjective): (of whipping cream or egg whites) Beaten until so aerated that they stand up straight on their own.
  • (adjective): Of an equation: for which certain numerical solving methods are numerically unstable, unless the step size is taken to be extremely small.
  • (adjective): Keeping upright.
  • A Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember was published in 2003.
  • She convinced the stiff to go to her hotel room, where her henchman was waiting to rob him.
  • Realizing he had forgotten his wallet, he stiffed the taxi driver when the cab stopped for a red light.
  • He was eventually caught, and given a stiff fine.
  • My legs are stiff after climbing that hill yesterday.