[-ING1.]
1. The action of STUFF v.1, or the result of this action; † the strengthening of an army or military position (obs.); filling or cramming with material; gorging, eating to repletion.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, IV. i. (S.T.S.), II. 51. Þe Wolchis & equis brandisand in sa grete Ire for stuffing of verrigo aganis þame [L. ob communitam Verruginem]. Ibid., V. xvii. II. 206. Be stuffing of þe first batallis the myd batall was drawne furth thyn and waik.
1551–2. Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 23. An Acte for the true stuffynge of Featherbeddes, Mattresses, and Quyssheons.
1581. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 377. For the tressonable stuffing and withhalding of certane houssis and strenthis aganis his Hienes.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, V. 122. To purchase fame to our posterities, By stuffing of our tropheies in their houses.
1712–3. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 12 March. I cannot endure above one dish; nor ever could since I was a boy, and loved stuffing.
1820. Scott, Monast., ix. These cowled gentry, that think of nothing but quaffing and stuffing!
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 465. The supplementary stuffings at tuck shops are a fertile source of feeble health.
b. Obstruction of the throat, nose or chest by catarrh; the sensation produced by this.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXVI. viii. II. 250. The same may bee taken … for the stuffing and other imperfections of the breast.
1618. Latham, 2nd bk. Falconry, xxix. 132. Of the Rye or stuffing in the Head.
1702. Post Man, 13–15 Jan., 2/2, Advt. In a Cough or Cold … where there is Pain, and stuffing in the Head.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xviii. 208. Blooded last night for cough and stuffing of chest.
2. The material with which a receptacle is stuffed or tightly filled.
1530. Palsgr., 277/2. Stuffyng of a saddell, bourree.
1575–6. Act 18 Eliz., c. 15. No Goldsmythe … shall … use … Sother Amell or other Stuffinges whatsoever … more then ys necessarie.
1628. trans. Mathieu’s Powerfull Favorite, 103. Meate being denied to Drusus, hee had eaten the stuffings of his bed.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 47 a. There are two sorts of Stuffing; the one … with which we fill the hollow … between the two Shells, consisting of Mortar and broken … Stone.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VI. 157. Four old turkey-worked chairs,… the stuffing staring out.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxiv. In the stuffing of my saddle you will find a rich purse of gold pieces.
1842. J. Aiton, Dom. Econ. (1857), 166. A person with the scoop goes immediately before the one who puts in the stuffing [in a drain].
1879. G. B. Goode, Catal. Anim. Resources U.S., 170. Preparation of curled hair for stuffings.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 532. Russian horse-hair which … had served as stuffing for an easy chair.
b. Cookery. Forcemeat or other seasoned mixture used to fill the body of a fowl, a hollow in a joint of meat, etc., before cooking.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Fartile, stuffynge, or that wherewith any foule is crammed or franked.
1598. Epulario, H j b. If you can deuise a better stuffing, you may: then fry them in oyle.
1675. Hannah Woolley, Gentlew. Comp., 134. Make a farsing or stuffing of all manner of sweet Herbs minced very small.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 192. The Leaves of this Plant are very good both in Pottage and in Stuffings.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 129. Fill the belly of the fish with stuffing.
1887. Spons’ Househ. Man., 460. Sauces, Butters, Gravies, Stuffings, &c.
† c. fig. (e.g., literary ‘padding’). Obs.
1550. Bale, Engl. Votaries, II. (1551), 36. Muche good stuffynge is in thys bulle, whan it iudgeth marryage a fornycacyon.
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, V. i. 16. Hollow statues, which the best men are, Without Promethean stuffings reacht from heauen!
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., II. 41. Men whose learning and beleif lies in marginal stuffings.
1804. Ann. Rev., II. 68/1. The doctor relates such daily occurrences, as would be esteemed too dull and unimportant for what is technically called, stuffing, in a garrison gazette.
d. To knock, beat, take the stuffing out of (an animal, person, etc.): to reduce to a state of weakness or flabbiness, take the strength or conceit out of. colloq.
1887. F. Francis, Jr. Saddle & Mocassin, 123. Get up!—get up, or I’ll beat the stuffing out of you!
1895. Westm. Gaz., 19 July, 7/1. We will knock the stuffing out of the parties during the next ten years.
1906. ‘Lucas Malet,’ Far Horizon, v. 49. There is nothing to compare with a mésalliance for taking the stuffing out of anyone.
3. Leather-manuf. The process of rubbing with a mixture of fish-oil and tallow; the mixture used for this.
1851–4. Tomlinson, Cycl. Usef. Arts, II. 35/2. When the skin is thoroughly cleansed,… the process of stuffing or dubbing … is performed.
1882. Encycl. Brit., XIV. 386/2. A stuffing, or dubbing, of cod oil and tallow is rubbed into both sides of the skin.
4. attrib. and Comb. as stuffing cloth, work; stuffing-box Machinery, a chamber packed with fluid-tight elastic material, through which a piston-rod or shaft is made to pass in order to prevent leakage at the orifice through which it leaves or enters a vessel; similarly stuffing-gland, ring; stuffing drum = stuffing wheel; † stuffing stick (see quot.); stuffing wheel, a revolving hollow drum in which leather is subjected to ‘stuffing.’
1798. Repert. Arts & Manuf. (1799), X. 290. C, shews the *stuffing-box, through which the spindle must come, to work the chains.
1881. Campin, Mech. Engin., 115. The joint is made steam tight by enclosing the extremity of the steam-pipe in a stuffing-box.
1522. in Archæologia, XXV. 462. Item pd for *stuffyng clothe for the plyts [of a gown], xj d.
1897. C. T. Davis, Manuf. Leather (ed. 2), 221. Freeman’s *Stuffing Drum.
1885. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Rec., Ser. IV. 102/1. The plunger is of stone-ware, accurately ground to fit the *stuffing-gland.
1797. J. Curr, Coal Viewer, 59. Pistons … should be 1/2 or 3/16 less than the cylinder, the *stuffing ring stands 4 inches from the side.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. v. 273/1. The *Stuffing Stick … is … made of tough Wood or Iron, being a little bent at the end, with a nick in it; by the help whereof, all parts of the seat of a Cushion, Chair, or Stool, are equally filled.
1882. Encycl. Brit., XIV. 389/1. The currier’s *stuffing wheel.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 55 a. Pumice Stone … is … the properest … for the *stuffing work of Vaults.
