stiffer

Pluralstiffers

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of stiff.

   The reinforced panel proved stiffer than the original under load.

   Cold mornings leave the old gate hinges stiffer and slower to swing.

   Note

   The comparative carries every meaning of stiff, not just the physical one. A panel grows stiffer under load, but a drink can be stiffer (more potent), a penalty stiffer (harsher), a manner stiffer (more formal), and legs stiffer after unaccustomed exercise. The superlative is stiffest. Context matters, because the same spelling is also a vulgar slang noun, which takes a plural, stiffers.

2. 2
   nounslangvulgarcountable

   A vulgar slang word for an erection of the penis.

   Embarrassed by the sudden stiffer, he kept his jacket on his lap.

   He blamed the morning stiffer on having slept too long.

   Similarerection, boner, hard-on

   Note

   Coarse slang, and countable: a stiffer, plural stiffers. In Irvine Welsh's Filth (1998), it sits beside the proverb "a standing prick hath no conscience." That company is typical: crude, comic, bluntly sexual talk. Keep it out of anything but deliberately vulgar speech or writing. Elsewhere, readers will expect the spelling to be the comparative of stiff.

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