stuff

Etymology

From Middle English stuffen (“to equip, furnish”), borrowed from Old French estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is necessary, equip, stuff”), borrowed from Old High German stoffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to clog up, block, fill”). More at stop.

noun

1. (informal) Miscellaneous items or objects; (with possessive) personal effects.
   What is all that stuff on your bedroom floor?  He didn't want his pockets to bulge so he was walking around with all his stuff in his hands.
   1. (obsolete, uncountable) Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.
      and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff. 1611, Bible, 1 Samuel 25:13, KJV
      He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff. 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI
2. (informal) Unspecified things or matters.
   I had to do some stuff.
3. The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object.
   1. (archaic) A material for making clothing; any woven textile, but especially a woollen fabric.
      "And you can buy a dress for your wife off this piece of stuff," said Lisetta, who had always an eye to business. 1857, The National Magazine, volumes 10-11, page 350
      She was going out to buy some lengths of good woollen stuff for Louise's winter dresses. 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, page 147
   2. (archaic) Boards used for building.
   3. Abstract/figurative substance or character.
      We are such stuff / As dreams are made on c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 4, scene 1, 156–157:
   4. Paper stock ground ready for use. When partly ground, it is called half stuff.
4. (informal) Used as placeholder, usually for material of unknown type or name.
   Can I have some of that stuff on my ice-cream sundae?
   It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless.[…]You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentary stuff.” 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court
   The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices). 2013-08-03, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
5. (slang) Narcotic drugs, especially heroin.
   For some idiotic reason the bureaucrats are more opposed to tea than to stuff. 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 11 March
   For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buy stuff and get off just before getting sick. 1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount, Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use, page 47
6. (obsolete) A medicine or mixture; a potion.
7. (sometimes euphemistic) Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language.
   Don't give me any of that 'what-about' stuff!
   Oh, stuff, Julia! I've given up chasing after will-o'-the-wisps like that. 1912, Upton Sinclair, The Machine
8. (nautical) A melted mass of turpentine, tallow, etc., with which the masts, sides, and bottom of a ship are smeared for lubrication.
   The master, at my earnest solicitation, examined his vessel, and though he prefers the coal tar, yet he told me, there were shells sticking on, and that a very thin coat of stuff, if any, remained. 1785, Pamphlets on British Shipping. 1785-1861, page 36
   On the last transverse planking, after: caulking and paying, he has laid on a coat of stuff, so hard when cold aš to resist a firm touch, and applied plain paper, then took heated band irons (such as women use) , and passed the iron from the centre of the sheet to the extremities, thus heating the stuff to make it adhere, pressing out the air, and laying it all flat and united with the course. 1822, William Annesley, A New System of Naval Architecture, page 31
   While the ships were placed in ordinary “a thick coat of stuff” was applied to the hulls, and their awnings might be spread or sheds erected to provide some protection from sun and weather. 2012, Thomas Williams, American Honor: The Story of Admiral Charles Stewart, page 561
9. (slang, criminal argot, dated) Money.

verb

1. (transitive) To fill by packing or crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess.
   I'm going to stuff this pillow with feathers.
2. (transitive) To fill a space with (something) in a compressed manner.
   He stuffed his clothes into the closet and shut the door.
   It's our life you're taking, you're making us poor, you have no right, these slaves are ours, until Marie wanted to fill their mouths with cotton, all the cotton that had ever been picked by their slaves, just stuff it down their mouths until they were as fat and soft as the huge pillows they slept on while their slaves slept on hard boards and straw in filthy rat-infested cabins. 2004, Orson Scott Card, The Crystal City: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book Six, Tom Doherty Associates, page 241
   You can't just stuff it in a vault somewhere and cross your fingers. 2007, Iceland Review, H.J. Hamar, page 227
   “I will sort this stuff out and repack it.” “No time! Just stuff it inside baskets and shove them to the back. We can sort through it all later.” 2011, Shirley G. East, The Dream Hunters Epoch: The Paleo Indians Series, Xlibris Corporation, page 528
3. (transitive, cooking) To fill with seasoning.
   She stuffed the turkey for Thanksgiving using her secret recipe.
4. (transitive) To load goods into (a container) for transport.
5. (transitive, used in the passive) To sate.
   I’m stuffed after having eaten all that turkey, mashed potatoes and delicious stuffing.
6. (takes a reflexive pronoun) To eat, especially in a hearty or greedy manner.
   She sits on the sofa all day, watching TV and stuffing herself with cream buns.
7. (transitive, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) To break; to destroy.
   He skidded off the road and totally stuffed his brand new car.
8. (transitive, vulgar, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) To sexually penetrate.
   His wife came home early and found him on the couch stuffing the maid.
9. (transitive, mildly vulgar, often imperative) Used to contemptuously dismiss or reject something. See also stuff it.
   Stuff your stupid rules, I'll do what I like.
   Jenny nodded in sympathy, spotting Ali's new iPod speakers sitting on top of the TV. Simone smiled and coughed. 'He forgot to take them with him. He can stuff it, it was my money.' 2009, Matthew Hall, The Coroner, Pan Macmillan, page 218
   'Well,' she said, 'you can take your job and you can stuff it, because...' She stopped dead. 'My God,' she whispered, 'I've been wanting to say that to somebody all my life, and now I actually have. Whee!' She pulled herself together, straightened her back and picked up her handbag. 'Sorry,' she said, 'but I'm through.' 2009, Tom Holt, Here Comes The Sun, Hachette UK, page 80
   And it rained everyday and the seas were rough everyday and I felt ill everyday and I thought, if this is sailing you can stuff it! 2015, Chris Dunning, About a Village Boy: A memoir, Troubador Publishing, page 91
10. (informal) To heavily defeat or get the better of.
    Mudchester Rovers were stuffed 7-0 in the semi-final.
    They totally stuffed us in that business deal.
11. (transitive) To cut off another competitor in a race by disturbing his projected and committed racing line (trajectory) by an abrupt manoeuvre.
    I got stuffed by that guy on the supermoto going into that turn, almost causing us to crash.
12. To preserve a dead bird or other animal by filling its skin.
13. (transitive) To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration.
14. (transitive) To form or fashion by packing with the necessary material.
    An Eastern king put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence, and ordered his hide to be stuffed into a cushion, and placed upon the tribunal. 1724, Jonathan Swift, “Drapier's Letters”, in 5
15. (transitive, dated) To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies.
16. (transitive, computing) To compress (a file or files) in the StuffIt format, to be unstuffed later.