firmness
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firm 1
(fûrm)adj. firm·er, firm·est
1. Resistant to externally applied pressure.
2. Marked by or indicating the tone and resiliency of healthy tissue: firm muscles.
3. Securely fixed in place: Despite being hit by the car, the post was still firm.
4. Indicating or possessed of determination or resolution: a firm voice.
5. Constant; steadfast: a firm ally.
6.
a. Not subject to change; fixed and definite: a firm bargain; a firm offer.
b. Unfluctuating; steady: Stock prices are still firm.
7. Strong and sure: a firm grasp.
tr. & intr.v. firmed, firm·ing, firms
To make or become firm. Often used with up.
adv. firmer, firmest
Without wavering; resolutely: stand firm.
firm′ly adv.
firm′ness n.
firm 2
(fûrm)n.
1. A business enterprise.
2. An unincorporated business, particularly a partnership.
3. The name or designation under which a company transacts business.
[Italian firma, from firmare, to ratify by signature, from Medieval Latin firmāre, from Latin, to confirm, from firmus, firm; see dher- in Indo-European roots.]
Firmness
See Also: FLEXIBILITY/INFLEXIBILITY
- (Bread …) as hard as pumice —Mary Stewart
- Be like a rocky head and on which the waves break incessantly, but it stands fast and the waters sink to rest —Marcus Aurelius
- (Continue) firm and unmoved as a column —James Boswell
- Firm as alabaster —Henry James
- Firm as a monkey’s tail —Creole expression
Before Jean Claude Duvalier’s Haitian regime toppled in 1983, he was quoted as saying, “I’m in control … firm as a monkey’s tail.”
- [Figure] firm as an apple —H. E. Bates
- (My heart is) firm as a stone —The Holy Bible/Job
- Firm as morality —Thorn Gunn
- [A distant ridge] firm as solid crystal —William Wordsworth
- Firm standing like a stone wall —Bernard Bee
The term “To stonewall” comes from Bee’s simile about Jackson at first battle of Bull Run.
- Hard and dry as rustling corn —Dame Edith Sitwell
- [A trained gangster] hard and solid, like a shark —John Malcolm
- Hard as a billiard ball —Anon
- (Soil) hard as a bowling alley —E. B. White
- Hard as a bulletproof vest —Russell Baker, New York Times, May 21, 1986
To put this in full context: “Americans like their fish, and fish roe too, fried hard as a bulletproof vest.”
- Hard as a heavy-duty canvas fire-hose —Sharon Olds
In the poem from which this is taken, Six-Year-Old Boy, the fire-hose is used to describe a small boy waking up to urinate.
- Hard as an egg at Easter —Michael Denham
- (His body thin and stringy but) hard as armor plating —Clive Cussler
- Hard as a stone pillow —Anon
Back in the T’ang Dynasty chen or ceramic pillows were used during as well as after life as a means for keeping the eyes clear and preserving sight.
- (The wheel of your life is … as) hard as caked clay which nothing can grow in —Amy Lowell
- (Words as) hard as cannon-balls —Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Hard as corkwood —Miguel de Cervantes
- (Felt as) hard as dried mud —James Crumley
The descriptive frame of reference is the face of a man who’s been beaten up.
- (Her breasts were small but looked) hard as green apples —Anon
- Hard as the knots in a whip —Yehuda Amichai
- Hard as nails —Charles Dickens
This now commonplace simile may well precede its appearance in Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Other writers who’ve used it since have modified and extended it, e.g.: “Hard and sharp as nails,” attributed to S. J. Weyman and “Hard as nails and sour as vinegar,” attributed to George Beillairs.
- Hardened and set like concrete —Karl Shapiro
- My ass … was tight as a bull’s in a thunderstorm —Lael Tucker Wertenbaker
- (His jaw was) rigid as a horseshoe —Flannery O’Connor
- Rigid as a starfish —Joyce Cary
- Rigid as bamboo —Diane Ackerman
- Rigid as iron post —Marge Piercy
- (He went as) rigid as Lenin’s mummy —Joseph Wambaugh
- Rigid as though bound and gagged —Eudora Welty
- She’s hard as steel —William Shakespeare
- (Heat) solid as a hickory stick —Eudora Welty
- Solid as a hill —William Boyd
- Stand firm as a tower, which never shakes its top, no matter what winds are blowing —Dante Alighieri
- Stiff as a garden hose left out in December —Will Weaver
In Weaver’s novel, Red Earth, White Earth, the comparison is used to describe the physical condition of a man who’s had a stroke.
- (His head,) stiff as a scarab —Theodore Roethke
- Stiff as chessmen —Elizabeth Bowen
- Stiff as icicles —Anon
- Stiff as sticks —Dan Jacobson
- [Bed sheet] stretched tight as a drumhead —Walker Percy
- (Backside) sturdy as baking soda biscuits —Curtis White
- Taut as a sail —Barbara Howes
- Taut as a tent —Karl Shapiro
- (Neck tendons) taut as banjo strings —Derek Walcott
- Tight as a scout’s knot —Lorrie Moore
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| Noun | 1. | firmness - the muscle tone of healthy tissue; "his muscular firmness" strength - the property of being physically or mentally strong; "fatigue sapped his strength" |
| 2. |  firmness - the trait of being resolute; "his resoluteness carried him through the battle"; "it was his unshakeable resolution to finish the work"trait - a distinguishing feature of your personal nature self-command, self-possession, will power, willpower, self-will, self-control, possession - the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior steadiness - freedom from wavering or indecision; constancy of resolve or conduct; "He trusted her clear steadiness that she would do what she said" sturdiness - resoluteness evidenced by strength of character; "sturdiness of moral principle" stiffness - firm resoluteness in purpose or opinion or action; "a charming host without any touch of stiffness or pomposity" bullheadedness, pigheadedness, self-will, stubbornness, obstinacy, obstinance - resolute adherence to your own ideas or desires single-mindedness - characterized by one unified purpose decisiveness, decision - the trait of resoluteness as evidenced by firmness of character or purpose; "a man of unusual decisiveness" determination, purpose - the quality of being determined to do or achieve something; firmness of purpose; "his determination showed in his every movement"; "he is a man of purpose" steadfastness - steadfast resolution | |
| 3. | firmness - the property of being unyielding to the touch hardness - the property of being rigid and resistant to pressure; not easily scratched; measured on Mohs scale | |
| 4. | firmness - the quality of being steady or securely and immovably fixed in place immovability, immovableness - not capable of being moved or rearranged granite - something having the quality of granite (unyielding firmness); "a man of granite" sureness - the quality of being steady and unfailing; "sureness of hand" stability, stableness - the quality or attribute of being firm and steadfast |
firmness
noun
1. hardness, resistance, density, rigidity, stiffness, solidity, inflexibility, compactness, fixedness, inelasticity the firmness of the ground
2. steadiness, tension, stability, tightness, soundness, tautness, tensile strength, immovability testing the firmness of the nearest stakes
3. strength, tightness, steadiness He was surprised at the firmness of her grip.
4. resolve, resolution, constancy, inflexibility, steadfastness, obduracy, strictness, strength of will, fixity, fixedness, staunchness There was no denying his considerable firmness of purpose
firmness
noun1. Reliability in withstanding pressure, force, or stress:
2. Unwavering firmness of character, action, or will:
Translations
firmness
n
(= solidity, of mattress, pillow, fruit, foundation etc) → Festigkeit f; (of stomach, thighs) → Straffheit f
(= strength: of hold, grip, handshake) → Festigkeit f; (= steadiness: of support, chair, ladder) → Stabilität f
(fig, of agreement, promise, commitment, belief, support) → Festigkeit f; (of person, action, manner) → Entschlossenheit f; (= strictness) → Strenge f; firmness of character → Charakterstärke f; it was thanks to his firmness of leadership → es war seiner festen Führung zu verdanken