stuffed

1. 1
   adjective

   Packed full with some material or substance, leaving no empty space.

   The toy box was stuffed to the brim with blocks and dolls.

   Her purse was stuffed with receipts she never threw away.

   Similarpacked, jammed, full, filled, bursting

   Oppositeempty, bare

   Note

   Two fixed pairings sit on top of the plain "packed full" meaning. A stuffed fox, like the one grinning in a garret in Richard Jefferies' The Amateur Poacher (1879), is a preserved animal. Stuffed animals, in William Irwin Thompson's phrase, are the soft toys of a children's room. For emphasis, speakers reach for stuffed to the gills.

2. 2
   adjectiveslang

   Feeling completely full after eating a large amount of food.

   After three helpings of turkey, he was completely stuffed.

   Thanks, but I'm stuffed. That bowl of pasta was enormous.

   Similarfull, sated, satiated, replete, gorged

   Oppositehungry, starving, famished, ravenous

   Note

   Table talk rather than written English. It usually comes after the verb, as in I'm stuffed or still stuffed, and is often pushed further with really or stuffed to the gills. Sheila M. Reindl's Sensing the Self (2002) sets really stuffed against really starving. One caution: in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, "I'm stuffed" can also mean worn out.

3. 3
   adjective

   Filled with a seasoned mixture used as a filling, then cooked.

   She served a whole stuffed chicken with herbs and rice inside.

   Stuffed grape leaves are a staple at every family gathering.

   Similarfilled

   Note

   A kitchen word that names the dish by what is inside it. It stands before the food, as in stuffed turkey or stuffed grape leaves, and the filling follows with: stuffed with bread and herbs. The filling itself is the stuffing. Unlike a stuffed suitcase, the contents here are seasoned, cooked and meant to be eaten with the dish.

4. 4
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of stuff.

   They stuffed the envelopes with flyers all afternoon.

   The children stuffed their faces with cake at the party.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs, as with any regular verb: they stuffed the envelopes, and the envelopes were stuffed. The verb comes from the noun stuff plus -ed. Its reflexive use, stuffing yourself or your face, means eating heartily or greedily, and its participle leads straight to the "full after eating" sense: once you have stuffed yourself, you are stuffed.

5. 5
   adjectiveAustraliaIrelandNew ZealandUK

   Broken and no longer functional, or caught in serious trouble from which recovery is unlikely.

   My laptop's stuffed. It won't even switch on anymore.

   Once the deal fell through, the whole company was stuffed.

   Similarbroken, busted, faulty, down, knackered

   Oppositeworking, functional, fine, operational

   Note

   Here the word is at home in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and it works on both machines and people. In John Marsden's The Night is for Hunting (1998), a car's suspension is stuffed. In Clare de Vries's Of Cats and Kings (2002), a person who won't "play ball" is really stuffed. For broken things it sits close to busted and knackered.

6. 6
   adjectivecolloquialAustraliaIrelandNew ZealandUK

   Extremely tired and completely worn out.

   We were all stuffed after a full day of hiking in the hills.

   She came home stuffed from back-to-back shifts at the hospital.

   Similartired, exhausted, drained, weary, fatigued

   Oppositerested, fresh, energetic

   Note

   A tiredness word heard in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is a casual stand-in for exhausted or weary that belongs in speech, not on a formal page. It keeps easy company with other plain talk. In Nick Oud's The Hatchling and The Human (2011), a speaker feels "really stuffed" and could do with "a bloody good sleep."

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