/stɑːf/, [stɑːf], [stäːf]
OriginFrom Middle English staf, from Old English stæf (“letter of the alphabet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stab, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Swedish stav.
Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced by or is even from German Stab.
- countable, uncountableA long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
“And thus ſhall ye eate it [the lamb]: with your loines girded, your ſhooes on your feet, and your ſtaffe in your hand: and ye ſhall eate it in haſte: it is the Lords Paſſeouer.”
“The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.”
- countable, uncountableA series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
- countable, uncountableThe employees of a business.
“The company employed 10 new members of staff this month.”
“The company has taken on 1600 more highly-paid staff.”
“No department of the Southern Railway escaped some share of the work involved, and the outdoor traffic and locomotive staffs in particular were engaged literally night and day, snatching a few hours' ”
- uncountableA mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.ᵂ
- countable, uncountableA pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.
“a constable's staff”
“Me thought this ſtaffe mine Office-badge in Court / Was broke in twaine:”
“All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them.”
- countable, uncountableA pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
- archaic, countable, uncountableThe rung of a ladder.
“I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.”
- countable, uncountableA series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
“Mr. Cowley had found out, that no kind of Staff is proper for an Heroick Poem; as being all too lirical:”
- countable, uncountableAn arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
- countable, uncountableThe grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
- countable, uncountableAn 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.
“At the head of that division which had Westminster Bridge for its approach to the scene of action, Lord George Gordon took his post; with Gashford at his right hand, and sundry ruffians, of most unpro”
- archaic, countable, uncountableA form of token once used, in combination with a ticket, for safe train movements between two points on a single line.
“The train-staff and ticket system was used widely at one time, until superseded by electrical token systems, the first of which, the tablet system, appeared in 1878, […].”
“The first up train was the morning semi-fast ex Buncrana, which sped through with No. 8 at its head, adroitly exchanging staffs at about 15 m.p.h. […] The next train through Tooban was our opposite nu”
“The unusual rolling stock, the fare collection methods, and the exchange of train staffs make it quite clear that here is something out of the ordinary run of suburban electric lines.”
- alt-of, misspellingMisspelling of staph.
- transitiveTo supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.
“Interlaken East station is jointly owned with the standard gauge Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway from Bern and Thun and the Swiss Federal Railways metre-gauge Brünig line from Lucerne, but is managed ”
Formsstaffs(plural) · staves(plural) · staff(plural) · staffs(present, singular, third-person) · staffing(participle, present) · staffed(participle, past) · staffed(past)
Source: Wiktionary — CC BY-SA 4.0