stuffy

[Bailey]

stuff·y (stf)
adj. stuff·i·er, stuff·i·est
1. Lacking sufficient ventilation; close.
2. Having the respiratory passages blocked: a stuffy nose.
3.
a. Dull and boring: a stuffy lecture.
b. Rigidly adhering to standards of conduct; strait-laced: "I went to one stuffy upper class dinner party on my first night & I go to another tonight" Evelyn Waugh.



stuffi·ly adv.
stuffi·ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

how odd we use stuffy for 'stale' air'

B.

[Perry]

stuff (n.)
c.1330, "quilted material worn under chain mail," from O.Fr. estoffe "quilted material, furniture, provisions" (Fr. étoffe), from estoffer "to equip or stock," probably from O.H.G. stopfon "to plug, stuff," or from a related Frankish word (see stop). Sense extended to material for working with in various trades (1406), then (1580) "matter of an unspecified kind." Meaning "narcotic, dope, drug" is attested from 1929. To know (one's) stuff "have a grasp on a subject" is recorded from 1927. stuffy "poorly ventilated" is from 1831; sense of "pompous, smug" is from 1895.

Quite so. I certainly wouldn't want to breath quilted air.