Definition of "stiffening" [stiff•en•ing]

• An item, material or feature that makes something stiffer. (noun)
• Present participle of stiffen. (verb)

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• "– I say I would become emphatic and cogent, not to say rather complacent, in such an address, when it would all go for nothing by reason of the Odd Girl’s suddenly stiffening from the toes upward, and glaring among us like a parochial petrifaction."
• "They are postcard sized bits of fabric art, with some kind of stiffening in the centre which go directly in the post."
• "He heard her breath coming quickly, and saw the kind of stiffening that went through her body; but she kept silence, and did not speak again till they were almost at his house-door."