Noun

(en noun)

Agent noun of stop, someone or something that stops something.

* {{quote-book

, year=1960 , author= , title=(Jeeves in the Offing) , section=chapter IX , passage=“It just shows you what women are like. A frightful sex, Bertie. There ought to be a law. I hope to live to see the day when women are no longer allowed.” “That would rather put a stopper on keeping the human race going, wouldn't it?” “Well, who wants to keep the human race going?”}}

* 2000 , Carole B. Cox, Empowering Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (page 28)

Often, in our conversations we encourage people to talk, or we manage to stop them. This can happen without our even thinking about it. Following is a list of conversation starters and stoppers .

A type of knot at the end of a rope, to prevent it from unravelling.

Put a stopper in the knot.

A bung or cork

We need a stopper or the boat will sink.

(slang, soccer) goalkeeper

He's the number one stopper in the country.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=January 15 , author=Saj Chowdhury , title=Man City 4 - 3 Wolves , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=And just before the interval, Kolarov, who was having one of his better games in a City shirt, fizzed in a cracker from 30 yards which the Wolves stopper unconvincingly pushed behind for a corner. }}

(finance, slang) In the commodity futures market, someone who is long (owns) a futures contract and is demanding delivery because they want to take possession of the deliverable commodity.

Cattle futures: spillover momentum plus evidence of a strong stopper (i.e., 96 loads demanded) should kick the opening higher.

(rail transport) A train that calls at all or almost all stations between its origin and destination, including very small ones.

(botany) Any of several trees of the genus Eugenia , found in Florida and the West Indies.

the red stopper

A playspot where water flows back on itself, creating a retentive feature.

Noun

(en-noun)

Miscellaneous items; things; (with possessive) personal effects.

:

*

*:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

The tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object.

*Sir (c.1569-1626)

*:The workman on his stuff' his skill doth show, / And yet the ' stuff gives not the man his skill.

A material for making clothing; any woven textile, but especially a woollen fabric.

*1992 , Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety , Harper Perennial 2007, p.147:

*:She was going out to buy some lengths of good woollen stuff for Louise's winter dresses.

Abstract substance or character.

*c.1599 , (William Shakespeare),

*:When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; / Ambition should be made of sterner stuff

*c.1610 , (William Shakespeare), (The Tempest) ,

*:We are such stuff / As dreams are made on

(lb)

:

*{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild

, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=3 , passage=It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}

Substitution for trivial details.

:

(lb) Narcotic drugs, especially heroin.

*1947 , William Burroughs, letter, 11 March:

*:For some idiotic reason the bureaucrats are more opposed to tea than to stuff .

Furniture; goods; domestic vessels or utensils.

*Sir (c.1564-1627)

*:He took away locks, and gave away the king's stuff .

(lb) A medicine or mixture; a potion.

:(Shakespeare)

(lb) Refuse or worthless matter; hence, also, foolish or irrational language; nonsense; trash.

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:Anger would indite / Such woeful stuff as I or Shadwell write.

(lb) A melted mass of turpentine, tallow, etc., with which the masts, sides, and bottom of a ship are smeared for lubrication.

:

Paper stock ground ready for use. When partly ground, it is called half stuff .

:(Knight)