subs. phr. (common).—A bank-note, or other paper money; the equivalent of money when not in specie, i.e., a draft or bill of exchange. Hence, TO DO A BIT OF STIFF = to accept a bill.
1854. LEVER, The Dodd Family Abroad, I., 313. I’m sorry … that ‘BIT OF STIFF,’ meaning the bill, was n’t for five thousand francs.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, 234. He liked to have the party’s name written across a piece of paper with a stamp attached, commonly called ‘a BIT OF STIFF.’
