Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Stiffness
Stiff′ness
,Noun.
The quality or state of being stiff;
as, the
stiffness
of cloth or of paste; stiffness
of manner; stiffness
of character.The vices of old age have the
stiffness
of it too. South.
Webster 1828 Edition
Stiffness
STIFFNESS
,Noun.
1.
Rigidness; want of pliableness or flexibility; the firm texture or state of a substance which renders it difficult to bend it; as the stiffness or iron or wood; the stiffness of a frozen limb.2.
Thickness; spissitude; a state between softness and hardness; as the stiffness of sirup, paste, size or starch.3.
Torpidness; inaptitude to motion.An icy stiffness benumbs my blood.
4.
Tension; as the stiffness of a cord.5.
Obstinacy; stubbornness; contumaciousness.The vices of old age have the stiffness of it too.
Stiffness of mind is not from adherence to truth, but submission to prejudice.
6.
Formality of manner; constraint; affected precision.All this religion sat easily upon him, without stiffness and constraint.
7.
Rigorousness; harshness.But speak no word to her of these sad plights, which her too constant stiffness doth constrain.
8.
Affected or constrained manner of expression or writing; want of natural simplicity and ease; as stiffness of style.