stiff as a board

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Also, stiff as a poker. Inflexible, rigidly formal, unbending, as in This cloth is stiff as a board; what happened to it? or There he stood, stiff as a poker, unwilling to give an inch. The board in the first simile for rigidity is a slab of wood; the second, alluding to the iron implement used to push around logs in open fires, dates from the late 1700s.

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Words nearby stiff as a board

stiction, Stiegel, Stieglitz, stiff, stiff-arm, stiff as a board, stiffen, stiffener, stiff-necked, stiffness, stiff upper lip

How to use stiff as a board in a sentence

Meanwhile, almost exactly 30 years after the trial, the judge left his home to board a steamboat and was never heard from again.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
ROME — What does it take for a Hollywood A-lister to get a private audience with Pope Francis?
Pope Francis Has the Pleasure of Meeting Angelina Jolie for a Few Seconds|Barbie Latza Nadeau|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Chérif was arrested in Paris in January 2005 as he was about to board a plane to Damascus along with a man named Thamer Bouchnak.
France Mourns—and Hunts|Nico Hines, Christopher Dickey|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Ney said McDonnell needs to “keep a stiff lip” and stay in close contact with family members.
Abramoff’s Advice for Virginia’s New Jailhouse Guv|Tim Mak, Jackie Kucinich|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

On his eighth try, more than three decades after he went in, the parole board finally voted to release Sam.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside|Justin Rohrlich|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The Spaniards captured two schooners, having on board 22 officers and 30 men, all of whom were hanged or sent to the mines.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
She had just left the wharf at Cincinnati for Louisville, with 225 passengers on board, of whom but 124 were saved.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
Now-a-days it is the bankrupt who flouts, and his too confiding creditors who are jeered and laughed at.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
But there was a breeze blowing, a choppy, stiff wind that whipped the water into froth.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
The patache was never seen again, and there is not much doubt that it was lost with all hands on board.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624|Various

stiff as a board

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How to use stiff as a board in a sentence