[1] : 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 

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