STIFF, stif, _adj._ not easily bent: rigid: not liquid: rather hard than
soft: not easily overcome: obstinate: not natural and easy: constrained:
formal: hard to overcome, difficult: firm, of prices, &c.: dead, rigid in
death: (_naut._) keeping upright.--_n._ (_slang_) a corpse: negotiable
paper: forged paper.--_v.t._ STIFF'EN, to make stiff.--_v.i._ to become
stiff: to become less impressible or more obstinate.--_ns._ STIFF'ENER, one
who, or that which, stiffens; STIFF'ENING, something used to make a
substance more stiff.--_adj._ STIFF'-HEART'ED (_B._), obstinate,
stubborn.--_adv._ STIFF'LY.--_n._ STIFF'-NECK, cervical myalgia, true
torticollis.--_adj._ STIFF'-NECKED, obstinate, hard to move.--_ns._
STIFF'-NECK'EDNESS; STIFF'NESS.--DO A BIT OF STIFF, to accept or discount a
bill. [A.S. _stíf_, stiff; Dut. _stijf_, Dan. _stiv_.]
STIFLE, st[=i]'fl, _v.t._ to stop the breath of by foul air or other means:
to suffocate, smother: to extinguish: to suppress the sound of: to destroy:
to suppress, conceal.--_v.i._ to suffocate.--_adj._ ST[=I]'FLING, close,
oppressive. [Scand., Ice. _stífla_, to choke up; Norw. _stivla_.]
STIFLE, st[=i]'fl, _n._ the knee-joint on a horse's hind-leg, a disease of
his knee-pan. [Perh. _stiff_.]
STIGMA, stig'ma, _n._ a brand: a mark of infamy: (_bot._) the top of a
pistil: any special mark: a place on the skin which bleeds
periodically:--_pl._ STIG'MAS or STIG'MATA.--_n._ STIGM[=A]'RIA, the root
of the fossil plant sigillaria, found in the coal-measures.--_n.pl._
STIG'MATA, the marks of the wounds on Christ's body, or marks resembling
them, claimed to have been miraculously impressed on the bodies of certain
persons, as Francis of Assisi in 1224.--_adjs._ STIGMAT'IC, -AL, marked or
branded with a stigma: giving infamy or reproach.--_adv._
STIGMAT'ICALLY.--_adj._ STIGMATIF'EROUS (_bot._), stigma-bearing.--_n._
STIGMATIS[=A]'TION, the operation or effect of producing bleeding spots
upon the body, as by hypnotism.--_v.t._ STIG'MATISE, to brand with a
stigma.--_n._ STIG'MATIST, one impressed with the stigmata.--_adj._
STIG'MATOSE, stigmatic: stigmatised.--_n._ STIGMAT[=O]'SIS, a form of
inflammation of the skin, occurring in spots.--_adj._ STIGMATYP'IC,
pertaining to the making of impressions by means of scorching-hot
plates.--_ns._ STIG'MATYPY, a species of printing with points, that
consists of their arrangement in pictures; STIG'M[=E] (_Gr. paleog._), a
dot used as a punctuation mark, esp. at the top of the line, equivalent to
a period. [L.,--Gr.,--_stizein_, to mark.]
STILBITE, stil'b[=i]t, _n._ a pearly and foliated variety of zeolite. [Gr.
_stilbein_, to shine.]
STILE, st[=i]l, _n._ a step, or set of steps, for climbing over a wall or
fence. [A.S. _stigel_, a step--_stígan_; cf. Ger. _steigen_, to mount.]