• adj. 呆板的；堅硬的；嚴厲的；拘謹的
• adv. 僵硬地；徹底地
• n. 死尸；令人討厭者；流通票據；勞動者
• vt. 詐騙；失信

來自古英語 stif,硬的，僵硬的，來自 Proto-Germanic*stifaz,僵硬的，無彈性的，來自 PIE*steip, 壓緊，打包，塞滿，可能來自 PIE*steu,推，擠，擊打，詞源同 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.

手術后她的膝蓋活動不便，走路時被迫跛行。

來自柯林斯例句

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

當我意識到自己的所作所為時，我嚇壞了。

來自柯林斯例句

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

把蛋清攪至起沫而不黏稠的程度。

來自柯林斯例句

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

外墻看起來一刮強風就會倒塌。

來自柯林斯例句

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

踏板似乎有點偏心，離合器也相當緊。

來自柯林斯例句