In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
STIFFENINGS
Noun
stiffenings
plural of stiffening
Source: Wiktionary
STIFFENING
Stiff"en*ing, n.
1. Act or process of making stiff.
2. Something used to make anything stiff. Stiffening order (Com.), a permission granted by the customs department to take cargo or ballast on board before the old cargo is out, in order to steady the ship.
STIFFEN
Stiff"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stiffened; p. pr. & vb. n. Stiffening.] Etym: [See Stiff.]
1. tiono make stiff; to make less pliant or flexible; as, to stiffen cloth with starch. Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. Shak.
2. To inspissate; to make more thick or viscous; as, to stiffen paste.
3. To make torpid; to benumb.
Stiff"en, v. i.
Definition: To become stiff or stiffer, in any sense of the adjective. Like bristles rose my stiffening hair. Dryden. The tender soil then stiffening by degrees. Dryden. Some souls we see, Grow hard and stiffen with adversity. Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
10 June 2025
COMMUNICATIONS
(noun) the discipline that studies the principles of transmiting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc.); “communications is his major field of study”
Coffee Trivia
