Proper vs Stiff - What's the difference?
proper | stiff | Related terms |
(lb) Suitable.
#Suited or acceptable to the purpose or circumstances; fit, suitable.
#:
#*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
#*:The proper study of mankind is man.
#*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= #Following the established standards of behavior or manners; correct or decorous.
#:
#*
#*:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.
(lb) Possessed, related.
#(lb) Used to designate a particular person, place, or thing. Proper words are usually written with an initial capital letter.
#Pertaining exclusively to a specific thing or person; particular.
#*, II.1.3:
#*:They have a proper saint almost for every peculiar infirmity: for poison, gouts, agues.
#*(Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
#*:those high and peculiar attributeswhich constitute our proper humanity
#(lb) Belonging to oneself or itself; own.
#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#*:my proper son
#*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
#*:Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, / Betwixt true valour and an empty boast.
#*, II.4.1.ii:
#*:every country, and more than that, every private place, hath his proper remedies growing in it, particular almost to the domineering and most frequent maladies of it.
#*1946 , (Bertrand Russell), (A History of Western Philosophy) , I.20:
#*:Each animal has its proper' pleasure, and the ' proper pleasure of man is connected with reason.
#(lb) Portrayed in natural or usual coloration, as opposed to conventional tinctures.
#
(lb) Accurate, strictly applied.
#Excellent, of high quality; such as the specific person or thing should ideally be. (Now often merged with later senses.)
#:
#
#*1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) VII:
#*:The same tyme was Moses borne, and was a propper childe in the sight of God, which was norisshed up in his fathers housse thre monethes.
#In the very strictest sense of the word (now often as postmodifier).
#*, Episode 16:
#*:Though unusual in the Dublin area he knew that it was not by any means unknown for desperadoes who had next to nothing to live on to be abroad waylaying and generally terrorising peaceable pedestrians by placing a pistol at their head in some secluded spot outside the city proper .
#
#:
(Scotland) properly; thoroughly; completely
* 1964 , Saint Andrew Society (Glasgow, Scotland), The Scots magazine: Volume 82
(nonstandard, slang) properly
* 2012 , (Soufside), Hello (song)
Of an object, rigid, hard to bend, inflexible.
*
*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff , retroussé moustache.
(lb) Of policies and rules and their application and enforcement, inflexible.
Of a person, formal in behavior, unrelaxed.
(lb) Harsh, severe.
:
Of muscles, or parts of the body, painful, as a result of excessive, or unaccustomed exercise.
:
Potent.
:
Dead, deceased.
Of a penis, erect.
An average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education, often a working stiff''''' or ''lucky '''stiff .
A person who is deceived, as a mark or pigeon in a swindle.
(slang) A cadaver, a dead person.
(US) A person who leaves (especially a restaurant) without paying the bill.
Any hard hand where it is possible to exceed 21 by drawing an additional card.
To fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.
* 1946 , William Foote Whyte, Industry and Society , page 129
* 1992 , Stephen Birmingham, Shades of Fortune , page 451
* 2007 , Mary Higgins Clark, I Heard That Song Before , page 154
Proper is a related term of stiff.
As adjectives the difference between proper and stiff
is that proper is (lb) suitable while stiff is of an object, rigid, hard to bend, inflexible.As an adverb proper
is (scotland) properly; thoroughly; completely.As a noun stiff is
an average person, usually male, of no particular distinction, skill, or education, often a working stiff''''' or ''lucky '''stiff .As a verb stiff is
to fail to pay that which one owes (implicitly or explicitly) to another, especially by departing hastily.proper
English
(wikipedia proper)Alternative forms
* propre (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)It's a gas, passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.}}
Synonyms
* correct, right, apt, prudent, sensible, fitting * appropriate, decent, good, polite, right, well-mannered * appropriate, just, honorable * comprehensive, royal, sweeping, intensive * (true) full, complete * complete, right (informal), total, utterAntonyms
* incorrect, wrong, bad, imprudent, insensible * inappropriate, indecent, bad, impolite, wrong, ill-mannered, unseemly * inappropriate, unjust, dishonorable * partial, incomplete, superficial, slapdash * (true) incompleteSee also
* proper adjective * proper fraction * proper nounAdverb
(-)- Don't you think you must have looked proper daft?
- When I meet a bad chick, know I gotta tell her hello
- talk real proper , but she straight up out the ghetto
Statistics
*stiff
English
Adjective
(er)Quotations
* (English Citations of "stiff")Derived terms
* stiffyNoun
(en noun)- A Working Stiff' s Manifesto: A Memoir of Thirty Jobs I Quit, Nine That Fired Me, and Three I Can't Remember was published in 2003.
- She convinced the stiff to go to her hotel room, where her henchman was waiting to rob him.
See also
* bindlestiff * See also ,Verb
(en verb)- Realizing he had forgotten his wallet, he stiffed the taxi driver when the cab stopped for a red light.
- We asked one girl to explain how she felt when she was "stiffed ." She said, You think of all the work you've done and how you've tried to please [them…].
- You see, poor Nonie really was stiffed' by Adolph in his will. He really ' stiffed her , Rose, and I really wanted to right that wrong.
- Then he stiffed the waiter with a cheap tip.