different between narrow vs stuffed

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?næ???/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?næ?o?/, /?n??o?/
• (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
• (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Rhymes: -ær??

Etymology 1

From Middle English narow, narowe, narewe, narwe, naru, from Old English nearu (“narrow, strait, confined, constricted, not spacious, limited, petty; limited, poor, restricted; oppressive, causing anxiety (of that which restricts free action of body or mind), causing or accompanied by difficulty, hardship, oppressive; oppressed, not having free action; strict, severe”), from Proto-Germanic *narwaz (“constricted, narrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ner- (“to turn, bend, twist, constrict”). Cognate with Scots naro, narow, narrow (“narrow”), North Frisian naar, noar, noor (“narrow”), Saterland Frisian noar (“bleak, dismal, meager, ghastly, unwell”), Saterland Frisian Naarwe (“scar”), West Frisian near (“narrow”), Dutch naar (“dismal, bleak, ill, sick”), Low German naar (“dismal, ghastly”), German Narbe (“scar”), Norwegian norve (“a clip, staple”), Icelandic njörva- (“narrow-”, in compounds).

Adjective

narrow (comparative narrower, superlative narrowest)

1. Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
2. Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
   • 1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion

     The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.

3. (figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.

4. Contracted; of limited scope; bigoted

5. Having a small margin or degree.
6. (dated) Limited as to means; straitened

   narrow circumstances

7. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
   • a. 1719, George Smalridge, The Hopes of a Recompense from Men must not be our chief Aim in doing Good

     a very narrow […] and stinted charity

8. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
9. (phonetics) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.

Antonyms

• wide
• broad

Related terms

• narrowly
• narrowness

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

narrow (plural narrows)

1. (chiefly in the plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
   • 1858', William Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age

     Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow.

Etymology 2

From Middle English narwen (“to narrow”); see there for more details, but ultimately derived from the noun.

Verb

narrow (third-person singular simple present narrows, present participle narrowing, simple past and past participle narrowed)

1. (transitive) To reduce in width or extent; to contract.

2. (intransitive) To get narrower.

3. (of a person or eyes) To partially lower one's eyelids in a way usually taken to suggest a defensive, aggressive or penetrating look.

4. (knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
5. (transitive, programming) To convert to a data type that cannot hold as many distinct values.

   Antonym: widen

Synonyms

• taper

Derived terms

• narrow down
• renarrow

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?ft/
• Rhymes: -?ft

Verb

stuffed

1. simple past tense and past participle of stuff

Adjective

stuffed (comparative more stuffed, superlative most stuffed)

1. Full or packed (with some material or substance).
   • 1997, Philippe Bonnefis, Paul Weidmann (translator), Céline: The Recall of the Birds, p.109:

     Hence, perhaps, the dins Céline deafens us with, in texts more and more stuffed with onomatopoeias.

   • 2008, Carn Tiernan, On the Back of the Other Side, p.2:

     She didn?t forget to pack anything, none of those irritating little things that wait till the last moment to pop out of hiding and make her re-open her most stuffed suitcase.

   • 2009, Marsha Collier, eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition, unnumbered page:

     The more stuffed your hard drive, the more Blob-like it becomes.

   • 2009, David Ugba, Awaken the Riches Within: Creating Extraordinary Wealth Using the Powerful Imagination of a Poet, iUniverse, p.96:

     Creating a poetic or extraordinary belief is the simple act of intensifying the mood or atmosphere of your belief and making it more stuffed with the ability or power to come real.

2. (cooking) filled with seasoning

3. (slang) Full after eating.
   • 2002, Sheila M. Reindl, Sensing the Self: Women?s Recovery from Bulimia, p.40:

     Beth says: “I never knew when I was full ?cause I always felt like I didn?t know whether I was hungry or full. My whole life I never knew when I was full or hungry unless I was really stuffed or really starving.”

   • 2009, Jason McCammon, The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest: Search for the IFA Scepter, unnumbered page:

     “See, huge meal.” Replied Farra. / “Still stuffed.” / “Yes, quite stuffed.”

   • 2009, Swapna Dutta, Geeta Menon (editor), Folk Tales of West Bengal, p.47:

     Allhadi gave a contented yawn and said: / “I have eaten till I am really stuffed / I am full and bloated and so puffed / I am bursting, I am telling you true / I couldn?t eat more if you begged me to.”

4. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) Very tired.
   • 2011, Nick Oud, The Hatchling and The Human, Xlibris, p.74:

     ‘Well, you talked me into it,’ said Cornelius. ‘I feel really stuffed. I can tell you that for sure. So I could do with a bloody good sleep.’

5. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) Broken, not functional; in trouble, in a situation from which one is unlikely to recover.
   • 1998, John Marsden, The Night is for Hunting, 2001, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, unnumbered page:

     If the suspension was stuffed already from hitting the concrete base of the fence—and it was—then it was really stuffed by the time we?d gone a kilometre along the railway.

   • 2002, Clare de Vries, Of Cats and Kings, p.174:

     But if you don?t play ball in life, if you don?t go for it with a sincere ‘Go, girrrrl’ rugby-tackle attitude, you?re really stuffed.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• duffest