Origin and history of stuffed

mid-14c., "furnish" (a place, with goods, provisions, etc.), also "reinforce" (a castle, etc., with troops), from Old French estofer "pad, upholster, fit out" (Modern French étoffer), from estoffe, and probably also in part from stuff (n.). Related: Stuffed; stuffing.

It is attested from late 14c. as "fill (a mattress, etc.) with padding, line with padding;" also in the cookery sense, in reference to filing the interior of a pastry or the cavity of a fowl or beast with suitable material (in reference specifically to a turkey by 1747).

It is attested by c. 1400 in the broad sense of "fill, cram full with loose material;" especially "fill (the belly) with food or drink, gorge." From early 15c. as "to clog" (the sinuses, etc.). By 1550s as "fill the prepared skin of an animal in taxidermy." The ballot-box sense is attested from 1854, American English. In expressions of contempt and suggestive of bodily orifices, it dates from 1952.