Definition of "stodgy"

"What's the matter with you?" — "Nothing. I'm sorry to be so damned emotional, but for six months I've been starved for beauty." — "You used to be so matter of fact. It's very interesting to hear you say that." — "Damn it all, I don't want to be interesting," laughed Philip. "Let's go and have a stodgy tea."

1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company

“. . Why! Why! Why is the middle-class so stodgy—so utterly without a sense of humour! My dear, it's only by a fluke that I am here at all—Norman being the protective fluke.”

1918 August, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Bliss”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, page 124

The Southampton striker, who also struck a post late on, was being serenaded by the Wembley crowd before the end and should probably brace himself for some Lambert-mania over the coming days but, amid the eulogies, it should not overlook the deficiencies that were evident in another stodgy England performance.

2013 August 14, Daniel Taylor, “Rickie Lambert's debut goal gives England victory over Scotland”, in The Guardian‎