stuff
part of speech
noun (stuff — uncountable); verb (stuff, stuffs, stuffed, stuffing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Things in general, when you do not need to name them: "Put your stuff in your bag." tree →
2) A material or substance: "What is this sticky stuff?" tree →
3) To fill something tightly: "stuff a pillow", "stuff a turkey". tree →
4) To push something quickly into a small space: "He stuffed the letter into his pocket." tree →
5) Informally, "I'm stuffed" means I have eaten too much. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life "stuff" is a very common, informal word; at school a teacher might say "Get your stuff ready". In cooking, people stuff peppers or a chicken. In writing lessons, pupils are told to use more exact words instead of "stuff" and "things". Phrases: and stuff, stuffed animal, stuffed toy, I'm stuffed, know your stuff.
examples
- Put your stuff away before lunch. tree →
- What is this green stuff on the bread? tree →
- She stuffed her clothes into the suitcase. tree →
- We stuffed the turkey for Christmas dinner. tree →
- I'm stuffed, I couldn't eat another bite. tree →
- My teddy is a stuffed toy. tree →
- Our science teacher really knows her stuff. tree →
- "Cucumbers stuffed with pearls!" exclaimed the princess. tree →
note
The noun is uncountable: "a lot of stuff", never "stuffs" or "a stuff". It is informal; in careful writing use "things", "belongings" or the exact name. "Stuffing" is the food put inside a chicken or the soft material inside a toy. Safety: mouldy green stuff on bread means it has gone bad; throw it away.
In the corpora
- The green stuff in leaves, chlorophyll, is what catches the light.
- Instead, a curtain of baleen plates hangs from the upper jaw, made of keratin, the same stuff as your fingernails.
- Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same stuff as hair and nails, so they rot away and rarely become fossils.
- She walks off; looking back, she sees them trying to stuff the Dormouse into the teapot.
- Alice: «Stuff and nonsense!
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «stuff» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.