poker

Very straight, rigid, or inflexible. Used to describe someone's physical posture or demeanor. The whole class sat in their chairs as stiff as pokers during the principal's lecture. He stood as stiff as a poker after his name was called, too nervous to move.

A blank, emotionless expression that gives no indication of one's thoughts or intentions. Poker players use such an expression so as not to give their opponents any clues about which cards they are holding. I kept looking over to see if she was impressed, but she wore a poker face throughout the performance. Now, make sure you keep your poker face on for these negotiations—we can't let them know where we stand.

rigid and inflexible; stiff and awkward. (Usually used to describe people. *Also: as ~.) This guy's dead. He's cold and as stiff as a poker. John is not a very good dancer; he's stiff as a poker.

A visage lacking any expression that can be interpreted, as in Whenever Betty attended one of her children's performances, she managed to keep a poker face . This term alludes to the facial expression of a poker player who is expert at concealing his feelings about his hand. [c. 1880]

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.

If you or your body are as stiff as a board, you are very stiff. You'll achieve flexibility very quickly with these exercises — even if you're as stiff as a board at your first session. His lower back felt as stiff as a board.

Total lack of expression; deadpan. This term comes from gambling, where the astute player tries not to betray the quality of his or her hand by remaining expressionless. Originating in the late nineteenth century, the term was transferred to other areas in which individuals tried hard not to betray their thoughts. C. E. Mulford used it in his western novel, Rustler’s Valley (1924): “He glanced around the circle and found poker faces.”

Rigid, inflexible. This common simile for being unbending is replacing the earlier stiff as a poker, probably because central heating has made fireplace implements like pokers less common household items. Stiff as a poker dates from the eighteenth century; it appeared in numerous sources, such as “Stuck up as stiff as a poker” (George Colman, Jr., The Heir at Law, 1797). Earlier still was stiff as a stake (sixteenth century), which is now obsolete.