staves


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staves

 (stāvz)
n.
A plural of staff1.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

staves

(steɪvz)
n
a plural of staff1, stave
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

staff1

(stæf, stɑf)

n., pl. staffs for 1-4,8; staves (stāvz) or staffs for 5-7,9,10; n.
1. a group of people, esp. employees, who carry out the work of an establishment or perform a specific function.
2. a group of assistants to a manager, superintendent, or executive.
3.
a. a body of military officers appointed to assist a commanding officer.
b. the parts of an army concerned with administration rather than combat.
4. a stick, pole, or rod for aid in walking or climbing, for use as a weapon, etc.
5. a rod serving as a symbol of office or authority.
6. a pole on which a flag is hung or displayed.
7. something that supports or sustains.
8. Also, stave. a set of usu. five horizontal lines, with the corresponding four spaces between them, on which music is written.
9. Archaic. the shaft of a spear, lance, etc.
adj.
10. of or pertaining to a military or organizational staff.
11. employed on the staff of a corporation, publication, institution, etc.: a staff writer.
v.t.
12. to provide with a staff of assistants or workers.
13. to serve on the staff of.
14. to send to a staff for study or further work (often fol. by out).
[before 900; Old English stæf, c. Old Frisian stef, Old Saxon staf, Old High German stap, Old Norse stafr staff]
usage: See collective noun.

staff2

(stæf, stɑf)

n.
a composition of plaster and fibrous material used for a temporary finish and in ornamental work, as on exposition buildings.
[1890–95, Amer.; perhaps < German Stoff stuff]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
"Now," quoth Little John, "is there never a man here that will lend me a good stout staff till I try the mettle of yon fellow?" At this, half a score reached him their staves, and he took the stoutest and heaviest of them all.
I forget whether I have told you that there was a stave on the rock, driven into it by some buccaneers of long ago to mark the site of buried treasure.
Then he got into the nest, reared the stave in it as a mast, and hung up his shirt for a sail.