Stuffing \Stuff"ing\, n.

1. That which is used for filling anything; as, the stuffing of a saddle or cushion.

2. (Cookery) Any seasoning preparation used to stuff meat; especially, a composition of bread, condiments, spices, etc.; forcemeat; dressing.

3. A mixture of oil and tallow used in softening and dressing leather.

Stuffing box, a device for rendering a joint impervious where there is a hole through which a movable cylindrical body, as the paston rod of a steam engine, or the plunger of a pump, slides back and forth, or in which a shaft turns. It usually consists of a box or chamber, made by an enlargement of part of the hole, forming a space around the rod or shaft for containing packing which is compressed and made to fill the space closely by means of a sleeve, called the gland, which fits loosely around the rod, and is pressed upon the packing by bolts or other means.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Stuff \Stuff\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stuffed; p. pr. & vb. n. Stuffing.]

[OE. stoffen; cf. OF. estoffer, F. ['e]toffer, to put stuff in, to stuff, to line, also, OF. estouffer to stifle, F. ['e]touffer; both perhaps of Teutonic origin, and akin to E. stop. Cf. Stop, v. t., Stuff, n.]

1. To fill by crowding something into; to cram with something; to load to excess; as, to stuff a bedtick.

Sometimes this crook drew hazel bought adown, And stuffed her apron wide with nuts so brown. --Gay.

Lest the gods, for sin, Should with a swelling dropsy stuff thy skin. --Dryden.

2. To thrust or crowd; to press; to pack.

Put roses into a glass with a narrow mouth, stuffing them close together . . . and they retain smell and color. --Bacon.

3. To fill by being pressed or packed into.

With inward arms the dire machine they load, And iron bowels stuff the dark abode. --Dryden.

4. (Cookery) To fill with a seasoning composition of bread, meat, condiments, etc.; as, to stuff a turkey.

5. To obstruct, as any of the organs; to affect with some obstruction in the organs of sense or respiration.

I'm stuffed, cousin; I can not smell. --Shak.

6. To fill the skin of, for the purpose of preserving as a specimen; -- said of birds or other animals.

7. To form or fashion by packing with the necessary material.

An Eastern king put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence, and ordered his hide to be stuffed into a cushion, and placed upon the tribunal. --Swift.

8. To crowd with facts; to cram the mind of; sometimes, to crowd or fill with false or idle tales or fancies.

9. To put fraudulent votes into (a ballot box). [U. S.]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)