stiffen

«stiffen» in Mova's school dictionary: to become hard, firm or difficult to bend — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (stiffen, stiffens, stiffened, stiffening)

meaning for a pupil

1) To stiffen is to become hard, firm or difficult to bend. tree →

2) When a person or animal stiffens, their body suddenly goes tense and still, often from fear or anger. tree →

3) To stiffen something is to make it firmer or stronger. tree →

4) To stiffen can also mean to turn into stone. tree →

sense in the lessons

In cooking and science, egg whites stiffen when you whisk them, and glue or starch stiffens cloth. In PE, muscles can stiffen if you don't warm up or stretch. In stories «she stiffened» tells the reader the character is suddenly afraid, shocked or offended. Phrases: «stiffen with fear», «stiffen up».

examples

• Whisk the egg whites until they stiffen. tree →
• My legs stiffened after the long walk. tree →
• The dog stiffened when it heard a noise. tree →
• She stiffened when the stranger spoke to her. tree →
• Starch is used to stiffen collars. tree →
• The clay stiffens as it dries. tree →
• Stretch after running so your muscles don't stiffen. tree →
• Calling to his friends to avert their faces, he drew it from his wallet, and held it before Phineus and his formidable body-guard, whereupon they all stiffened into stone. tree →

note

Past: stiffened (double f, one n before -ed). Adjective: stiff; adverb: stiffly. «Stiffen» means become stiff, as «harden» means become hard.

In the corpora

• Sitting still for hours stiffens the back and neck; getting up and moving often helps more than any special chair.
• Muscles cool down and stiffen while you sit, so subs need a warm-up before going on.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «stiffen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.