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staff
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
staff
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a committee/staff/board etc meeting
▪ A staff meeting will be held at 3 p.m.
a committee/staff/family etc member
▪ Close friendships developed between crew members on the ship.
a member of a committee/of staff etc
▪ All members of staff attend regular training sessions.
a staff exchange
▪ The staff exchange programme allows the company to share personnel with partner institutions abroad.
a staff member
▪ He became a staff member of the Institute in 2002.
a staff shortage (=a shortage of people to work at a particular business)
▪ The company blamed staff shortages for the delays.
a staff vacancy
▪ Other officers are working overtime because of staff vacancies.
administrative staff/duties/job etc
▪ the administrative costs of health care systems
▪ an administrative assistant
▪ staff who provide technical and administrative support to the college
ambulance staff/crew/worker
▪ The ambulance crew removed him from the wreckage.
chief of staff
▪ the White House chief of staff
clinic staff
▪ Clinic staff are hopeful that Stephen will make a full recovery.
department staff (=people working in a department)
▪ All department staff will be affected by the new working hours.
full-time staff/student etc
▪ They’re looking for full-time staff at the library.
general staff
ground staff
job/staff cuts
▪ There have been falling sales and job cuts at the newspaper.
maintenance crew/man/staff (=someone who looks after buildings and equipment for a school or company)
office staff/workers/equipment etc
▪ Office staff need well-designed desks and chairs.
▪ the increased demand for office space
security staff
▪ Teams of security staff guard the laboratory.
senior staff
▪ Some senior staff criticized the headteacher's behaviour.
shed jobs/workers/staff etc
▪ The bank continued to shed workers.
staff nurse
staff officer
staff sergeant
staff training
▪ Insufficient priority is given to staff training.
staff/labour turnover
▪ a high degree of labour turnover among women
staff/team morale
▪ Positive feedback is good for staff morale.
staff/union/company etc rep
▪ You need to speak to the students’ rep.
the library staff
▪ If you have problems finding a book, ask a member of the library staff.
the teaching staff (=the teachers at a school, college etc)
▪ She attended a girls' school where all the teaching staff were women.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
academic
▪ Similar one-day workshops for new part-time academic staff were piloted in June.
▪ Perhaps the relationship between academic staff and student is essentially different so that regulation is required.
▪ Retirement of members of the academic and academic-related staff of the university.
▪ The main problem that Ash foresees is among the younger academic staff.
▪ Some of the respondents to our academic staff survey clearly believed that discrimination in higher education was widespread.
▪ It needs to be recast, so that it extends beyond academic staff to embrace the student body.
▪ Our relations are more adult and friendly than those of many academic staff rooms that I have seen.
administrative
▪ Evaluations of policies are conducted through research and expert analysis supported by the Presidium's administrative staff.
▪ The team has control over virtually everything, from maintenance of the building to the curriculum to the hiring of administrative staff.
▪ Vacancies for administrative staff are currently 5.3 percent.
▪ It was this clientele which Hunter and his administrative staff took on in Tucson, in January 1994.
▪ Kim runs the centre from day to day, recruiting, training and developing the administrative staff.
▪ His recommendation was that a commanding officer be appointed with an administrative staff.
▪ Removal of members of the teaching research and administrative staff and vacation of office. 1.
▪ The expansion of the police administrative staff guaranteed a faster route to the top for those who were drafted in as clerks.
general
▪ Three days previously he had abolished the post of chief of general staff, held by Vice-Adml.
▪ Yet the general staff of overseers is small, only about 40 employees, supplemented by local officials in 94 judicial districts.
▪ Strategic decisions are kept separate, and are decided by the chief executive assisted by a small general office staff.
▪ Valery Manilov, deputy chief of the general staff.
▪ Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the general staff, to cut spending on the nuclear arsenal.
▪ Its rear legs have joined the general staff, who are all in discussion with their backs towards me.
▪ The general staff is unhappy and the squaddies disgruntled, but no more than that.
medical
▪ Futility and anticipation of poor quality of life were the reasons most frequently cited by medical staff.
▪ Other events, such as those that follow, are avoidable with cooperation be-tween the parents and the medical staff.
▪ Certain toxic syndromes indicating a specific substance may become familiar to medical staff owing to frequent local abuse.
▪ And the medical staff has been augmented with an orthopedic and vascular surgeon.
▪ We will continue to encourage the involvement of doctors and other medical staff in the management of services.
▪ It upset both nursing and medical staff.
▪ Arguments in favour of a more substantial increase in the supply of medical staff come from several sources.
▪ The allocation of annual leave to nurses should take account of the intentions of senior medical staff.
nursing
▪ Not every hospital has the resources or the skilled nursing staff to see to the special needs of many of these patients.
▪ Already another member of the nursing staff has enrolled in the 1993/94 course.
▪ Until then Darlington Health Authority has given one member of nursing staff extra training in diabetic problems.
▪ Also in many hospitals there is an overlap of nursing staff in the afternoon.
▪ It upset both nursing and medical staff.
▪ All of these cuts in the main affect ancillary and nursing staff.
▪ The dispute led to mass resignations among the nursing staff and the closure of the 70-bed unit for two months last year.
other
▪ What support is available to you from tutors and other staff?
▪ She is highly computer-literate, and good at explaining the use of the system to other staff and to our Library users.
▪ Managers also receive a removal grant of £1290 and other staff receive £1135.
▪ Moreover, management issues do arise naturally when clinicians work together in teams, perhaps with nurses and other professional staff.
▪ Facilitator to other staff to enable them to undertake initiatives..
▪ Myself, Private Boyd or one of the other staff will be here and it is up to you to register with them.
▪ Confidentiality is assured, unless the interviewee requests the Welfare Officer to liaise with line or other management staff.
▪ Like other staff, they enter into the discussions and decision-making which surround their work.
professional
▪ The recommended salary scale for bureaux managers is pegged to local authority rates for professional staff.
▪ Unruh helped put a measure on the 1966 ballot that created a full-time Legislature with a professional staff.
▪ We have sheltered accommodation, with understanding professional staff, for blind men and women who are unable to look after themselves.
▪ Also, the number of professional staff as opposed to number crunchers, has increased.
▪ Semi-skilled and unskilled workers were more willing to relocate than management and professional staff.
▪ Sub-regional specialties were strongly favoured by professional care staff if not by members or managers within the authorities.
▪ Among other services to members is a helpline, professional support staff and information and education resources.
▪ Most counties carry a professional playing staff sufficient to fill two full elevens plus a few to cover for injuries.
senior
▪ Luncheon in the Court room for senior staff and guests followed the official opening ceremony.
▪ Next weekend, Clinton will hold a retreat for Cabinet secretaries and senior staff at Camp David.
▪ I shall want one of the senior staff in each department while the search is going on.
▪ Kaden, too, and a couple of other senior staff at Haunstetten.
▪ The conference was being arranged for the Founders and regional activists to meet the newly arriving senior staff.
▪ It is likely that the early stages of all procedures will rest with the headteacher and other senior staff in school.
▪ Selection of quotations for which entries are needed and sorting into senses by senior staff.
▪ Sub-editing of entries by senior staff.
■ NOUN
development
▪ It is worth looking at short- and medium-term goals for staff development and asking the same questions.
▪ In addition, Eastin recommends improved teacher training and staff development.
▪ What can be done to ensure that the staff development needs of health education co-ordinators are met?
▪ Materials in the center are organized into three distinct categories: reference, child-use, and staff development.
▪ As will all aspects of the Development Programme we are always glad to receive suggestions on appropriate staff development activities.
▪ There is already a strong commitment to developing expert practitioners in Medway, as demonstrated by the appointment of staff development officers.
▪ It is expected that the staff development programmes will be improved and extended still further. 2.3.
▪ The HMIs' severest criticisms are about lack of staff development and opportunities for updating of knowledge.
examiner
▪ A friend on the Examiner staff sent a supply of Combat by express mail.
hospital
▪ The hospital staff wouldn't thank him for provoking another.
▪ I always suspect that the proverbial gratitude which patients express to hospital staff is really gratitude for having got out alive!
▪ Most people consider elimination to be a very private bodily function and therefore find it an embarrassing subject to discuss with hospital staff.
▪ Some of the hospital staff distributed biscuits and rice, but the charnel-house smell was so strong that few were hungry.
▪ The cash was raised by hospital staff.
▪ It may be difficult for hospital staff to remember this because they are familiar with the environment and routines.
▪ It was his mental state which put the wind up the hospital staff.
▪ The hospital staff I spoke to were almost without exception complacent on the subject of interpreters.
library
▪ The Edinburgh library staff would like to remind users that there are still books on loan under the old manual system.
▪ Although many readers discuss their reading habits and wants with the library staff, an even larger number do not.
▪ They can be used by people too shy to ask questions of the library staff.
▪ Begin by querying the library staff.
▪ Together with other Library staff, responsibility for reader assistance and help with enquiries. 12.
▪ Photocopying for library staff and for other approved users. 9.
▪ All four heads took the unprompted view that there was a desperate need for professional library staff in secondary schools.
meeting
▪ There are quite often meetings in here in the mornings, staff meetings or personal meetings of one sort or another.
▪ Top staff meetings at the White House and in the various agencies and departments are devoted to getting puff pieces written.
▪ Mandy, Mrs Foster has called a staff meeting.
▪ Both the 6: 30 staff meetings and the WSOAs proved extremely unpopular.
▪ Review the staff meetings schedule to make sure everyone is able to attend regularly.
▪ Get rapid responses to queries people raise in their staff meetings.
▪ The earlier staff meeting had shown that journalists would not work under Sutton.
▪ The weekly staff meeting is where the message that marketing is a priority is hammered home.
member
▪ Every staff member who leaves, retires or ceases their employment of the Bank, should be replaced by a full-time official.
▪ In 1979, Courtney Pace retired after thirty-five years as a staff member for former senator James Eastland.
▪ It involves presentations to staff and parents, setting up exhibitions and holding meetings with key staff members.
▪ So are his mostly scripted comments in public settings and his reliance on veteran staff members for guidance.
▪ But some staff members have at one point expressed sympathy for a Valley secession.
▪ How it got to this point is there was an investigation of a staff member abusing a child.
▪ Nevertheless, no amount of sterile packs and antiseptic agents will protect a patient from a staff member who has contaminated hands.
▪ Perquisites are a key part of the White House, and staff members measure their importance by them.
nurse
▪ A typical staff nurse earns £10,800-£12,400 a year.
▪ Only a Sister in her sixties, and two staff nurses were on duty in reception.
▪ She's one of our staff nurses.
▪ Responsibility for changing this and keeping information up to date can be delegated to a staff nurse or senior student.
▪ With the staff nurse on Rainbow.
▪ It might have been the ward sister or the staff nurse.
▪ I could really go for him in a big way, but he's going steady with the staff nurse on Rainbow.
office
▪ It was handy since it opened directly on to the parking slots for office staff, much prized and intrigued over.
▪ You then approved the decision to terminate the Travel Office staff....
▪ The office staff even have to share staples.
▪ The box office staff stopped taking reservations the morning the reviews were published, for the engagement was quickly sold out.
▪ Officials are sending out information packs to 4000 firms in the area, mostly employing office staff.
▪ The willingness to thin the office staff without let or hindrance.
▪ Needing some one to supervise his office staff and to act as his secretary, he advertised and she applied for the job.
▪ Employment agencies Employment agencies used to be only for domestic and office staff.
officer
▪ The result was that the influence of the staff officers naturally became very great.
▪ Then she became Bishop Owen's secretary and driver and staff officer.
▪ This did not mean, however, that staff officers trespassed on the authority of their superiors.
▪ Michael Skinner was a brilliant staff officer, with the great advantage of personal and successful experience in the field.
▪ Richard doesn't have the manners to be a staff officer.
▪ Admiral Ugaki promptly instructed subordinate staff officers to make a detailed study of the practicability of his plan.
room
▪ Is the meeting held in the informal comfort of the staff room or is the setting a more formal arrangement?
▪ He stuffs the sponge in my pocket and points up the hall where the staff room is, and I go.
▪ Located behind these buildings were the vast kitchen, store-rooms, housekeeping, laundry, staff rooms and car parking.
▪ Cleaning the staff room is always bad.
▪ Work then began inside the main school to refurbish classrooms, staff rooms and toilets.
▪ Not even when they start strolling down to the staff room without her.
▪ They were together in the big cupboard behind the staff room, refilling the sugar bowls.
▪ I always go down and clean the staff room during these meetings they have, been doing it for years.
support
▪ Training regular training sessions and monitoring of all teaching and support staff.
▪ They took this detour-investing their own money in trucks and a support staff to help them deliver the food.
▪ This can be broadly broken down for descriptive purposes as a program staff of 11, and a support staff of 4.
▪ Top executives are generally provided with spacious offices and secretarial and support staff.
▪ From April 1, some 255 scientists and support staff were put directly under the control of Courtaulds operating businesses.
▪ Or: one the support staff.
▪ Among other services to members is a helpline, professional support staff and information and education resources.
▪ Oh, and with a real support staff and functional equipment.
teaching
▪ It is also possible for the teaching staff to obtain a record of the student's progress.
▪ This approach has been popular with teaching staff who are not known for being slow to complain about their administrative load.
▪ Students of Belgrade University went on strike on June 14, supported in their demands by the teaching staff.
▪ They had taken on extra teaching staff.
▪ Co-operation with teaching staff or subject departments in the use of the library as part of a specific teaching programme. 4.
▪ Before that occurred, however, another old stalwart from the teaching staff retired.
▪ The teaching staff of the faculty of divinity was not - with one exception, Hoskyns.
■ VERB
employ
▪ At present Wolverhampton appears to employ more non-teaching staff than teachers under its education budget.
▪ He was also criticized for employing a staff member who made inappropriate comments about a committee witness's religion.
▪ But management say that while they would like to employ specialist staff they simply have not got the money.
▪ JBird employs seven full-time staff members, several free-lancers and about 20 talent scouts worldwide.
▪ In the former case, by employing civilian clerical staff a greater proportion of funds can be allocated for direct policing policies.
▪ Hoffman was previously employed as an assistant staff judge advocate with the U.S.
▪ The argument for the Banks employing new staff is indeed great.
▪ CHELTENHAM/Gloucestershire Eagle Star, which has its headquarters in Cheltenham, employs three thousand staff in the town.
involve
▪ The research is part of a wider programme involving staff and doctoral students at Imperial College Management School.
▪ It involves staff cuts, budget caps, a stronger inspector general and consolidation of three economic-development bureaucracies into one.
▪ Not enough time to involve shop staff in the search.
▪ One way to help this process is to involve all staff affected by computer systems in the computing process.
▪ Finally, consensus participation attempts to involve all user department staff throughout the design and development of the system.
▪ His ideas for change would involve some regrouping of staff, and some need for training with new computer software.
▪ It involves presentations to staff and parents, setting up exhibitions and holding meetings with key staff members.
▪ Its central brief has been to involve staff as closely possible in the event.
provide
▪ It is these processes which provide the principles for staff management and enhance the quality of working relationships within the organisation.
▪ Some agencies are particularly keen to attract nurses who have had a break in practice and provide reorientation for new staff.
▪ Who will provide dedicated staff to the accounts?
▪ The way to differentiate the product is therefore through the quality of service provided by staff.
▪ Legal services, provided by four staff attorneys and a few clerks and volunteers, are provided free or at low cost.
▪ Welfare provision, apart from that provided by the prison staff themselves, was non-existent.
▪ Money will be provided for one staff development day, avoiding the need to cancel classes for the training.
train
▪ And yet not one of the members of the area training staff had been in Tanganyika during this crucial period.
▪ In addition, Eastin recommends improved teacher training and staff development.
▪ Officials are drafting the strategy, which aims to raise teaching standards through training and staff support.
▪ In the long run, hiring and training your own telemarketing staff is more economical, Tiknis says.
▪ Another element in the development of unreasonable expectations stemmed from the high commitment of the area training staff to the training program.
▪ The core training staff was also satisfied.
▪ Only now are they starting to organise training for their staff.
▪ As will be seen, however, this high commitment of the training staff had both positive and negative consequences.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
ancillary workers/staff etc
▪ Ancillary staff All educational establishments are dependent for their day-to-day running on the ancillary staff.
▪ Could parents force a local authority to keep schools open during a strike of ancillary workers?
▪ It is the governors, too, who manage the teaching and ancillary staff.
▪ No hospital can function well without receptionists, cleaners, administrators, porters and all the other ancillary staff.
▪ Often the only staff who live within the school's catchment area are the caretaker and the ancillary workers.
▪ The providers of domestic, portering and ward ancillary staff are also subjected to pressure from staff for the peak-holiday periods.
skeleton staff/crew/service etc
▪ A skeleton staff was on duty to keep the world-wide operations of Royalbion ticking over.
▪ The skeleton staff were no match for Massenga and his team of ex-Security policemen.
▪ The Automobile Association skeleton staff trio will be huddled in front of their personal computer screens relaying road conditions to drivers.
▪ The doc pointed out how appropriate it was to have a Skull in a skeleton crew.
▪ The Republicans and Democrats tick over with a skeleton staff and then hire specialist consultants for each campaign.
▪ There was only a skeleton staff on duty and no one took much notice of him.
▪ Various versions were filmed on closed sets with skeleton crews and strict security.
▪ Without you ghost ferries would cross the Mersey manned by skeleton crews.
the general staff
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Both the Dodgers and the Reds have strong pitching staffs.
▪ Ford is looking for part-time sales staff.
▪ In 1998, she joined the President's personal staff in the White House.
▪ Our department has a staff of 7.
▪ Our library staff will be happy to help if you are unable to find the book you want.
▪ The staff were clearly worried about rumours of job losses.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But his remarks about some of the traditional chippy staff have enraged workers in the region.
▪ Finally, consensus participation attempts to involve all user department staff throughout the design and development of the system.
▪ I don't think any of the staff believed I already knew.
▪ It's cost more than a million pounds, but staff and children say it's worth every penny.
▪ It was not long before I experienced my first crisis as her chief of staff.
▪ The Commission has a permanent staff of 24 and, in addition, employs eight seasonal staff during the summer and autumn periods.
▪ The inspiration she gave to her staff and her friends continues now that she is gone.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
officer
▪ Its social and evangelistic outposts in numerous countries were staffed by many competent officers.
▪ It is staffed by prison officers and nurses and the discipline and medical roles often conflict.
▪ In fact, it was a police exercise and was solely staffed by two undercover officers calling themselves Gary and Aggi.
▪ It is staffed by a dozen officers working in shifts but supposed eventually to have three times as many.
▪ Careers officer LEAs are obliged to set up a Careers Service, which is staffed by careers officers.
people
▪ They are usually purpose-built, with facilities to help disabled people and are staffed by qualified people.
▪ It is staffed by people who came into the field generally from the best of motives.
▪ These are staffed mainly by people from the wealthiest countries, with the United States disproportionately represented.
▪ Businesses all, and all staffed by people who themselves act like little businesses.
▪ At this point funding agencies too were staffed by people with commitment and genuine concern for development problems.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The clinic is staffed by retired doctors.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ An electronic intelligence-gathering station, staffed by former Soviet personnel, would remain.
▪ Deliberately staffed with deadwood, the dynamite group was no threat to his own Great Group.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Staff

Staff \Staff\ (st[.a]f), n.; pl. Staves (st[=a]vz or st[aum]vz; 277) or Staffs (st[.a]fs) in senses 1-9, Staffs in senses 10, 1

  1. [AS. st[ae]f a staff; akin to LG. & D. staf, OFries. stef, G. stab, Icel. stafr, Sw. staf, Dan. stav, Goth. stabs element, rudiment, Skr. sth[=a]pay 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.

    And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar to bear it withal.
    --Ex. xxxviii. 7.

    With forks and staves the felon to pursue.
    --Dryden.

  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.

    The boy was the very staff of my age.
    --Shak.

    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.

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

    Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, Was broke in twain.
    --Shak.

    All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them.
    --Hayward.

  4. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.

  5. The round of a ladder. [R.]

    I ascended at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.
    --Dr. J. Campbell (E. Brown's Travels).

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

    Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical.
    --Dryden.

  7. (Mus.) The five lines and the spaces on which music is written; -- formerly called stave.

  8. (Mech.) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.

  9. (Surg.) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.

  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 ['E]tat Major.

  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.

    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 ( C. 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.]

Staff

Staff \Staff\ (st[.a]f), n. [G. staffiren to fill or fit out, adorn, fr. D. stoffeeren, OF. estoffer, F. ['e]toffer, fr. OF. estoffe stuff, F. ['e]toffe. See Stuff, n.] (Arch.) Plaster combined with fibrous and other materials so as to be suitable for sculpture in relief or in the round, or for forming flat plates or boards of considerable size which can be nailed to framework to make the exterior of a larger structure, forming joints which may afterward be repaired and concealed with fresh plaster.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
staff

"to provide with a staff of assistants," 1859, from staff (n.). Related: Staffed; staffing.\n

staff

Old English stæf (plural stafas), "walking stick, strong pole used for carrying, rod used as a weapon, pastoral staff," probably originally *stæb, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz (cognates: Old Saxon staf, Old Norse stafr, Danish stav, Old Frisian stef, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch staf, Old High German stab, German Stab, Gothic *stafs "element;" Middle Dutch stapel "pillar, foundation"), from PIE root *stebh- "post, stem, to support, place firmly on, fasten" (cognates: Old Lithuanian stabas "idol," Lithuanian stebas "staff, pillar;" Old Church Slavonic stoboru "pillar;" Sanskrit stabhnati "supports;" Greek stephein "to tie around, encircle, wreathe," staphyle "grapevine, bunch of grapes;" Old English stapol "post, pillar").\n

\nAs "pole from which a flag is flown," 1610s. In musical notation from 1660s. Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" is attested from 1702, apparently from German, from the notion of the "baton" that is a badge of office or authority (a sense attested in English from 1530s); hence staff officer (1702), staff-sergeant (1811). Meaning "group of employees (as at an office or hospital)" is first found 1837. Staff of life "bread" is from the Biblical phrase break the staff of bread meaning "cut off the supply of food" (Lev. xxvi:26), translating Hebrew matteh lekhem.\n

\nThe Old English word, in plural, was the common one used for "letter of the alphabet, character," hence "writing, literature," and many compounds having to do with writing, such as stæfcræft "grammar," stæfcræftig "lettered," stæflic "literary," stæfleahtor "grammatical error," with leahtor "vice, sin, offense."\n

Wiktionary
staff

n. (label en plural staffs or staves) A long, straight stick, especially one used to assist in walking. vb. (context transitive English) to supply (a business) with employees

Related phrases:
WordNet
staff

  1. v. provide with staff; "This position is not always staffed"

  2. serve on the staff of; "The two men staff the reception desk"

staff

  1. n. personnel who assist their superior in carrying out an assigned task; "the hospital has an excellent nursing staff"; "the general relied on his staff to make routine decisions"

  2. the body of teachers and administrators at a school; "the dean addressed the letter to the entire staff of the university" [syn: faculty]

  3. a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose; "he walked with the help of a wooden staff"

  4. building material consisting of plaster and hair; used to cover external surfaces of temporary structure (as at an exposition) or for decoration

  5. a rod carried as a symbol

  6. (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written [syn: stave]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Staff

Staff may refer to:

Staff (military)

A military staff (often referred to as general staff, army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian personnel that are responsible for the administrative, operational and logistical needs of its unit. It provides bi-directional flow of information between a commanding officer and subordinate military units. A staff also provides an executive function where it filters information needed by the commander or shunts unnecessary information.

Staff (music)

In Western musical notation, the staff, or stave is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending on the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, and rests and other symbols are placed by convention.

The absolute pitch of each line of a non-percussive staff is indicated by the placement of a clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff (possibly modified by conventions for specific instruments). For example, the treble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed on the second line (counting upwards), fixing that line as the pitch first G above ' middle C'.

The lines and spaces are numbered from bottom to top; the bottom line is the first line and the top line is the fifth line.

The musical staff is analogous to a mathematical graph of pitch with respect to time. Pitches of notes are given by their vertical position on the staff and notes are played from left to right. Unlike a graph, however, the number of semitones represented by a vertical step from a line to an adjacent space depends on the key, and the exact timing of the beginning of each note is not directly proportional to its horizontal position; rather, exact timing is encoded by the musical symbol chosen for each note in addition to the tempo.

A time signature to the right of the clef indicates the relationship between timing counts and note symbols, while bar lines group notes on the staff into measures.

Staff (building material)

Staff is a kind of artificial stone used for covering and ornamenting temporary buildings.

Staff is chiefly made of powdered gypsum or plaster of Paris, with a little cement, glycerin, and dextrin, mixed with water until it is about as thick as molasses. When staff is cast in molds it can form any shape. To strengthen it coarse cloth or bagging, or fibers of hemp or jute, are put into the molds before casting. It becomes hard enough in about a half-hour to be removed and fastened on the building in construction. Staff may easily be bent, sawed, bored, or nailed. Its natural color is murky white, but it may be made to resemble any kind of stone.

Staff was invented in France about 1876 and was used in the construction and ornamentation of the buildings of the Paris Expositions of 1878 and of 1889. It was also largely used in the construction of the buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, at the Omaha and Buffalo Expositions in 1898 and 1901, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, and at later expositions and on temporary buildings of other kinds.

Staff (name)

Staff is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:

Surname:

  • Barbara Staff (born 1924), American political activist
  • David Staff (born 1979), English footballer for Boston United and Rugby Town
  • Hanne Staff (born 1972), Norwegian orienteering athlete
  • Jamie Staff MBE (born 1973), English BMX and track racing cyclist and coach
  • Kathy Staff (1928–2008), English actress who portrayed Nora Batty in Last of the Summer Wine
  • Leopold Staff (1878–1957), Polish poet
  • Ole Johannesen Staff (born 1789), Norwegian politician
  • Ray Staff, mastering engineer for Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Clash and Black Sabbath

Given name:

  • Staff Barootes (1918–2000), Canadian physician, urologist, and parliamentarian
  • Staff Jones (born 1959), rugby union prop forward for Wales and Pontypool
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "staff".

And because of the aberration of the Dutch and Belgians for neutrality there had been no staff consultations by which the defenders could pool their plans and resources to the best advantage.

L staff whose job was to check identifications before allowing admittance to the ball.

Chief of Staff of the school, an old air wolf who had been an airman as far back as the Civil War, was fond of saying.

Staff Sergeant Alphonse Marks, Lieutenant Charles Akers, and Lieutenant Megan Swigart.

The largest of those was taller than Alayne, with iron bands girding its dark brown staves.

Sometimes the wolves would slink into the Lesser Town and attack the almsfolk foraging for scraps in the middens, and sometimes an almsman would be discovered dead in the snow, half naked and frozen stiff, still clutching his staff, looking like a statue toppled from its pedestal.

Trent has arranged for Amaryllis to masquerade as a member of the catering staff at the reception.

But, in this respect, the Hallichek Ambassadress and her Embassy staff were sorely hampered.

Its authors, Heinz van Foerster, Patricia Mora and Lawrence Amiot, were members of the staff of the department of electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

A few of his staff officers almost certainly spoke English as their second tongue, but the Bedouins, despite their Greater Arabian ancestry, had forgotten it generations ago.

German general staff, on the other hand, requested that Hungarian Army units should occupy the southern slopes of the Carpathians, which had been given at the Second Viennese Arbitrage to Rumania.

Staff members of the arbitration service or panel members with more general backgrounds may also be available.

But his heart sped up again in the tunnel that joined the armory to the staff room.

They had no tanks or armoured cars, and neither the workshops to make and maintain them nor the trained men and staffs to handle them.

I shall make your crutch your staff of office and see the armourers about a blade myself.