• adj. 呆板的；坚硬的；严厉的；拘谨的
• adv. 僵硬地；彻底地
• n. 死尸；令人讨厌者；流通票据；劳动者
• vt. 诈骗；失信

来自古英语 stif,硬的，僵硬的，来自 Proto-Germanic*stifaz,僵硬的，无弹性的，来自 PIE*steip, 压紧，打包，塞满，可能来自 PIE*steu,推，挤，击打，词源同 steep,stoop,stuff.

stiff

stiff: [OE] Stiff goes back to prehistoric Germanic *stīfaz ‘inflexible’, source also of German steif, Dutch stiff, Swedish styf, and Danish stiv. This in turn was descended from an Indo-European *stīpos, a derivative of the same base as produced Latin stīpāre ‘press, pack’ (source of English constipate and stevedore), Latvian stipt ‘stiffen’, and Lithuanian stiprùs ‘strong’.
=> constipation, stevedore

stiff (adj.)

Old English stif "rigid, inflexible," from Proto-Germanic *stifaz "inflexible" (cognates: Dutch stijf, Old High German stif, German steif "stiff;" Old Norse stifla "choke"), from PIE *stipos-, from root *steip- "press together, pack, cram" (cognates: Sanskrit styayate "coagulates," stima "slow;" Greek stia, stion "small stone," steibo "press together;" Latin stipare "pack down, press," stipes "post, tree trunk;" Lithuanian stipti "stiffen," stiprus "strong;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall"). Of battles and competitions, from mid-13c.; of liquor, from 1813. To keep a stiff upper lip is attested from 1815. Related: Stiffly.

stiff (v.)

late 14c., "to make stiff," from stiff (adj.). Meaning "fail to tip" is from 1939, originally among restaurant and hotel workers, probably from stiff (n.), perhaps in slang sense of "corpse" (because dead men pay no tips), or from the "contemptible person" sense. Extended by 1950 to "cheat."

stiff (n.)

"corpse, dead body," 1859, slang, from stiff (adj.) which had been associated with notion of rigor mortis since c. 1200. Meaning "working man" first recorded 1930, from earlier genitive sense of "contemptible person," but sometimes merely "man, fellow" (1882). Slang meaning "something or someone bound to lose" is 1890 (originally of racehorses), from notion of "corpse."

1. A stiff knee following surgery forced her to walk with a limp.

手术后她的膝盖活动不便，走路时被迫跛行。

来自柯林斯例句

2. I was scared stiff when I realized what I'ddone.

当我意识到自己的所作所为时，我吓坏了。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Whisk the egg whites until they are foamy but not stiff.

把蛋清搅至起沫而不黏稠的程度。

来自柯林斯例句

4. The outer walls looked likely to tumble down in a stiff wind.

外墙看起来一刮强风就会倒塌。

来自柯林斯例句

5. The pedals seem a bit off-centre and the clutch is rather stiff.

踏板似乎有点偏心，离合器也相当紧。

来自柯林斯例句