What is "stave"

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.]

"piece of a barrel," 1750, back-formation from staves (late 14c.), plural of staff, with the usual change of medial -f- to -v- (compare leaves/leaf). The plural form possibly was in Old English but not recorded there.

1540s, "to fit with staves," from stave (n.). The meaning "break into staves" is from 1590s (with in from 1748, chiefly nautical, on notion of bashing in the staves of a cask). Past tense stove. Stave off (1620s), however, is literally "keep off with a staff," as of one beset by wolves or dogs. Related: Staved; staving.

n. 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; especially, one of the strips which form the sides of a cask, a pail, etc. 2 One of the bars or rounds of a rack, rungs of a ladder, etc; one of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel 3 (context poetry English) A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff. 4 (label en music) The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff. 5 A staff or walking stick. vb. (context transitive English) To break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst. Often with ''in''.

1. v. furnich with staves; "stave a ladder"

2. burst or force (a hole) into something [syn: stave in]

3. [also: stove]

1. n. (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]

4. [also: stove]

A stave is a narrow length of wood with a slightly bevelled edge to form the sides of barrels, tanks and pipelines, originally handmade by coopers. They have been used in the construction of large holding tanks and penstocks at hydro power developments.

Stave is a village in the municipality of Krupanj, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 450 people.

Stave can refer to:

• Stave (wood), one of the individual strips of wood that form the sides of a barrel
• Stave Run, a river in Virginia, United States
• Staff (music), a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces used in musical notation
• A less common term for a poetic stanza
• Stave church, a Medieval wooden church with post and beam construction prevalent in Norway
• The Staves, an English folk rock trio.
• A stick
• A stave bearing is one that uses a number of axial strips or staves, rather than circular or semi-circular shells.
• An old English word for chapter
• Rune-like symbols from Icelandic magic, see Icelandic magical staves