stiffness

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stiff/stɪf/

▶adjective

• 1 not easily bent; rigid.

  ■ not moving freely; difficult to turn or operate.

  ■ unable to move easily and without pain.

• 2 not relaxed or friendly; constrained.

• 3 severe or strong: they face stiff fines.

  ■ (of a wind) blowing strongly.

  ■ (of an alcoholic drink) strong.

• 4 (stiff with) informal full of.

• 5 (—— stiff) informal having a specified unpleasant feeling to an extreme extent: scared stiff.

▶noun informal

• 1 a dead body.

• 2 chiefly N. Amer. a boring, conventional person.

▶verb informal

• 1 N. Amer. cheat (someone).

  ■ fail to leave (someone) a tip.

• 2 N. Amer. ignore deliberately; snub.

• 3 kill (someone).

– phrases
a stiff upper lip a quality of uncomplaining stoicism.

– derivatives
stiffish adjective,
stiffly adverb,
stiffness noun.

– origin OE stīf, of Gmc origin.