Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which stiffens.
  • noun In iron ship-building, one of a series of angle-bars, Z-bars, or other shapes, riveted to plating, particularly to the plating of bulkheads, to give them the necessary stiffness or rigidity. Stiffeners are called vertical stiffeners or horizontal stiffeners, according to the way they are arranged on the bulkhead.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, stiffens anything, as a piece of stiff cloth in a cravat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Anything added to something in order to stiffen it, such as a support beam, or starch for a collar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun material used for stiffening something

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

stiffen +‎ -er

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Examples

  • By and by it became a habit with him, when his men ceased work, to stroll down to the "Turk's Head" for a "stiffener" before his meal.

    Hetty Wesley Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903

  • Ian Fleming was famous for enjoying a 'stiffener' here and we all know where his Martini habit led.

    Londonist 2010

  • Send a self-addressed stamped envelope with a cardboard inside as a "stiffener" to prevent creases from the mail handling.

    wikiHow - New Pages [en] E3oM 2010

  • He thought that would be a "stiffener" for London.

    The Guardian World News 2009

  • He thought that would be a "stiffener" for London.

    Blogposts | guardian.co.uk 2009

  • He thought that would be a "stiffener" for London.

    The Guardian World News 2009

  • "stiffener" of raw cognac, wrapped myself well, and at once fell asleep in the heavy rain, whilst the crew gathered under the sail.

    Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1 Richard Francis Burton 1855

  • "stiffener" that would strengthen the British government's determination to secure security council resolution 1441.

    The Guardian World News 2009

  • It happens that I am invited to hear him speak this evening and, though I arrive at the Hall in good time after the customary stiffener, I find queues snaking around the building.

    Cablemania hits Guildford 2009

  • Need to go buy stuff for the T-shirt quilts I'm making, namely stiffener to back the (million) squares.

    random dull day stuff tragic_elegance 2009

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