[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

staff \staff\ st.af, n.; pl. staves st=avz or
   staumvz; 277 or staffs st.afs in senses 1-9,
   staffs in senses 10, 11. as. staef a staff; akin to lg. 
   d. staf, ofries. stef, g. stab, icel. stafr, sw. staf, dan.
   stav, goth. stabs element, rudiment, skr. sth=apay to cause
   to stand, to place. see stand, and cf. stab, stave, n.
   1. a long piece of wood; a stick; the long handle of an
      instrument or weapon; a pole or stick, used for many
      purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or
      pike.
      1913 webster

            and he put the staves into the rings on the sides of
            the altar to bear it withal.          --ex. xxxviii.
                                                  7.
      1913 webster

            with forks and staves the felon to pursue. --dryden.
      1913 webster

   2. a stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a
      person walking; hence, a support; that which props or
      upholds. "hooked staves." --piers plowman.
      1913 webster

            the boy was the very staff of my age. --shak.
      1913 webster

            he spoke of it beer in "the earnest cry," and
            likewise in the "scotch drink," as one of the staffs
            of life which had been struck from the poor man's
            hand.                                 --prof.
                                                  wilson.
      1913 webster

   3. a pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a
      badge of office; as, a constable's staff.
      1913 webster

            methought this staff, mine office badge in court,
            was broke in twain.                   --shak.
      1913 webster

            all his officers brake their staves; but at their
            return new staves were delivered unto them.
                                                  --hayward.
      1913 webster

   4. a pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
      1913 webster

   5. the round of a ladder. r.
      1913 webster

            i ascended at one ladder of six hundred and
            thirty-nine staves.                   --dr. j.
                                                  campbell e.
                                                  brown's
                                                  travels.
      1913 webster

   6. a series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded,
      the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
      1913 webster

            cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for
            an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical. --dryden.
      1913 webster

   7. mus. the five lines and the spaces on which music is
      written; -- formerly called stave.
      1913 webster

   8. mech. an arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
      1913 webster

   9. surg. the grooved director for the gorget, or knife,
      used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
      1913 webster

   10. from staff, 3, a badge of office. mil. an
       establishment of officers in various departments attached
       to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander
       of an army. the general's staff consists of those
       officers about his person who are employed in carrying
       his commands into execution. see 'etat major.
       1913 webster

   11. hence: a body of assistants serving to carry into effect
       the plans of a superintendent or manager; sometimes used
       for the entire group of employees of an enterprise,
       excluding the top management; as, the staff of a
       newspaper.
       1913 webster +pjc

   jacob's staff surv., a single straight rod or staff,
      pointed and iron-shod at the bottom, for penetrating the
      ground, and having a socket joint at the top, used,
      instead of a tripod, for supporting a compass.

   staff angle arch., a square rod of wood standing flush
      with the wall on each of its sides, at the external angles
      of plastering, to prevent their being damaged.

   the staff of life, bread. "bread is the staff of life."
      --swift.

   staff tree bot., any plant of the genus celastrus,
      mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. the
      american species celastrus scandens is commonly called
      bittersweet. see 2d bittersweet, 3
       b .

   to set up one's staff, to put up one's staff, to set
   down one's staff or to put down one's staff, to take up
      one's residence; to lodge. obs.
      1913 webster
see also:
staves staffs stand stab stave stave 
staff 'etat major jacob's staff staff angle the staff of life 
staff tree celastrus celastrus scandens bittersweet bittersweet 
to set up one's staff to put up one's staff to set down one's staff to put down one's staff 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stave \stave\ st=av, n. from staff, and corresponding to
   the pl. staves. see staff.
   1. one of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron
      plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering,
      or lining of a vessel or structure; esp., one of the
      strips which form the sides of a cask, a pail, etc.
      1913 webster

   2. one of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel; one of the
      bars or rounds of a rack, a ladder, etc.
      1913 webster

   3. a metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
      1913 webster

            let us chant a passing stave
            in honor of that hero brave.          --wordsworth.
      1913 webster

   4. mus. the five horizontal and parallel lines on and
      between which musical notes are written or printed; the
      staff7. obs.
      1913 webster

   stave jointer, a machine for dressing the edges of staves.
      1913 webster
see also:
staff stave jointer 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stave \stave\, v. t. imp.  p. p. staved st=avd or
   stove st=ov; p. pr.  vb. n. staving. from stave,
   n., or staff, n.
   1. to break in a stave or the staves of; to break a hole in;
      to burst; -- often with in; as, to stave a cask; to stave
      in a boat.
      1913 webster

   2. to push, as with a staff; -- with off.
      1913 webster

            the condition of a servant staves him off to a
            distance.                             --south.
      1913 webster

   3. to delay by force or craft; to drive away; -- usually with
      off; as, to stave off the execution of a project.
      1913 webster

            and answered with such craft as women use,
            guilty or guiltless, to stave off a chance
            that breaks upon them perilously.     --tennyson.
      1913 webster

   4. to suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.
      1913 webster

            all the wine in the city has been staved. --sandys.
      1913 webster

   5. to furnish with staves or rundles. --knolles.
      1913 webster

   6. to render impervious or solid by driving with a calking
      iron; as, to stave lead, or the joints of pipes into which
      lead has been run.
      1913 webster

   to stave and tail, in bear baiting, to stave to interpose
      with the staff, doubtless to stop the bear; to tail to
      hold back the dog by the tail. --nares.
      1913 webster
see also:
staved stove staving stave staff to stave and tail 

[4] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

stave \stave\, v. i.
   to burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash
   into fragments.
   1913 webster

         like a vessel of glass she stove and sank.
                                                  --longfellow.
   1913 webster

[5] : WordNet (r) 2.0

stave
     n 1: music the system of five horizontal lines on which the
          musical notes are written syn: staff
     2: one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a
        barrel or bucket syn: lag
     3: a crosspiece between the legs of a chair syn: rung, round
     v 1: furnich with staves; "stave a ladder"
     2: burst or force a hole into something syn: stave in
     also: stove
see also:
staff lag rung round stave in stove 

[6] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

178 moby thesaurus words for "stave":
   malacca cane, spenserian stanza, advocate, alpenstock, antistrophe,
   arm, athletic supporter, back, backbone, backing, bandeau, bar,
   bar line, barrel, baton, beam, bearer, billet, board, boarding,
   book, bra, brace, bracer, bracket, brassiere, bucket, bullet,
   burden, buttress, cane, canto, carrier, cervix, chorus, clapboard,
   cord, cordwood, corset, couplet, crook, crosier, cross,
   cross-staff, crutch, crutch-stick, deal, degree, distich, doorstep,
   driftwood, envoi, epode, firewood, footrest, footstep,
   foundation garment, fulcrum, girdle, guy, guywire, handstaff,
   hardwood, haste, hasten, heptastich, hexastich, highball, hotfoot,
   hustle, jock, jockstrap, lath, lathing, lathwork, ledger line,
   line, lituus, log, lumber, mainstay, maintainer, mast, measure,
   monostich, neck, octastich, octave, octet, ottava rima, panelboard,
   paneling, panelwork, pastoral staff, paterissa, pentastich, plank,
   planking, plyboard, plywood, pole, post, prop, puncheon,
   quarterstaff, quatrain, refrain, reinforce, reinforcement,
   reinforcer, rest, resting place, rhyme royal, rigging, riser,
   round, rundle, rung, scale, septet, sestet, sextet, shake,
   sheathing, sheathing board, sheeting, shillelagh, shingle,
   shoulder, shroud, sideboard, siding, slab, slat, softwood, space,
   spine, splat, spoke, sprit, staff, stair, standing rigging, stanza,
   stay, step, step stool, stepping-stone, stick, stick of wood,
   stiffener, stovewood, strain, strengthener, string, strophe,
   support, supporter, sustainer, swagger stick, swanking stick,
   syllable, tercet, terza rima, tetrastich, three-by-four, timber,
   timbering, timberwork, tread, triplet, tristich, two-by-four,
   upholder, verse, walking stick, weatherboard, wood

Stave >> S Words
Stave, definition of term: Stave
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Stave Off >> S Words
Stave Off, definition of term: Stave Off
stave+off_pag1.html