Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A plural of
staff and the plural ofstave .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun pl. of
staff .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Plural form of
staff (long, straight stick). - noun Plural form of
stave . - verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of
stave .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Some had bows, some "staves" -- that is, bills, pole-axes, or pikes.
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Some had bows, some "staves" -- that is, bills, pole-axes, or pikes.
A Dream of John Ball; and, a king's lesson William Morris 1865
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58 Retiring elders laid down their staves and new appointees received staves from the governor with "great pleasure," swearing obedience to him with "a handshake before God."
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64 During one landdag, for example, the governor explained that the transfer of staves is to be strictly controlled "not because we place any importance on their value per se but so that the ... symbol of their [the elders '] authority, given by us to mark their honor, be not violated."
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I thought if you have more than one staff, they are referred to as staves, not staffs.
Week 35: That Most Dangerous of Animals Douglas Wolk 2007
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Or … maybe the staves are the wooden vertical things that make up the walls of the barrel!
Blogtimore, Hon 2008
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Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete The Challoner Revision Anonymous
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Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete Anonymous
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Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 43: Zacharias The Challoner Revision
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Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
sionnach commented on the word staves
The preferred plural form when referring to musical notation; otherwise staffs is preferred. (Garner)
April 3, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word staves
Also when talking about those strips of wood that make a barrel. Oh crap. WeirdNet beat me to it.
April 3, 2008