Definition

1. Noun:
   • Soft material used to fill something: A soft, often fluffy or springy material used to fill and give shape to items like cushions, pillows, stuffed toys, and upholstered furniture.
   • A seasoned food mixture: A savory mixture of ingredients, such as bread, herbs, vegetables, and spices, used to fill the cavity of poultry, meat, or vegetables before cooking.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Soft material):
  • The old armchair needs new stuffing.
  • She removed the stuffing from the torn teddy bear to wash its fabric cover.
• Noun (Food mixture):
  • My grandmother makes the best bread stuffing for Thanksgiving turkey.
  • We prepared a vegetarian stuffing with mushrooms and wild rice.

Advanced Usage

• "knock the stuffing out of someone": To defeat someone decisively or to make someone feel very weak, shocked, or demoralized.
  • The bad news really knocked the stuffing out of him for a few days.
• In a figurative sense, "stuffing" can refer to the essential substance or quality that gives something its character or fullness.
  • After the scandal, the argument lost all its intellectual stuffing.

Variants and Related Words

• Stuff (verb): To fill something tightly with a substance.
  • She stuffed the pillow with feathers.
• Stuffed (adjective):
  • Filled tightly with something.

    • a stuffed animal
  • (Informal) Feeling very full after eating.

    • I'm stuffed after that big meal.
• Stuffable (adjective): Capable of being stuffed.

Synonyms

• Filling: Material used to fill something (general term for both definitions).
• Padding: Soft material used for protection, cushioning, or shaping.
• Dressing: A seasoned mixture often cooked inside poultry (a common synonym in culinary contexts, especially in American English).

Phrasal Verbs / Related Verb Phrases

• Stuff with: To fill something completely with a particular material.
  • The chef stuffed the peppers with a mixture of rice and herbs.

Related Idioms

• "stuff and nonsense": An exclamation meaning "that's ridiculous or untrue."
  • "I don't believe a word of it—stuff and nonsense!" (Note: This idiom uses "stuff," not directly "stuffing," but is a closely related fixed expression.)

Noun

1. padding put in mattresses and cushions and upholstered furniture
2. a mixture of seasoned ingredients used to stuff meats and vegetables