stiffener

stiffen +‎ -er

stiffener (plural stiffeners)

1. Anything added to something in order to stiffen it, such as a support beam, or starch for a collar.
   • 1856, Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life & Every-day People‎:

     […] he wears a wisp of black silk round his neck, without any stiffener, as an apology for a neckerchief […]

   • 1901, James Nisbit Hazlehurst, Towers and Tanks for Water-works: The Theory and Practice of Their Design and Construction‎:

     […] each of these stiffener-columns must be designed to resist approximately 26 tons. Sometimes single angles are thus used as stiffeners […]

   • 1904, Edward L. Attwood, War-ships: A Text-book on the Construction, Protection, Stability, Turning, Etc., of War Vessels‎:

     The tee bar (b) is used as a stiffener to important bulkheads […]

   • 1944 November and December, “Modified G.W.R. "Hall" Class Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 350:

     […] with this arrangement the cylinders are cast separately from the saddle, and bolted to the frames on each side with a fabricated stiffener between the frames. This stiffener is carried up to form the saddle for the smokebox, and within it is fitted the exhaust pipes from the cylinders to the blast pipe.

2. In construction one of a series of angle-bars, Z-bars, beams, rods, or other shapes, attached to give them the necessary stiffness or rigidity. Stiffeners are called vertical stiffeners or horizontal stiffeners, according to the way these are arranged.
3. (slang) An alcoholic drink taken to fortify oneself.
   • 2017, William Meikle, Sigils and Totems:

     I believe the old man has taken himself off to the nearest bar for a stiffener.

• restiffen