noun
- any of the thin, shaped strips of wood or metal, set edge to edge to form or strengthen the wall of a barrel, bucket, etc.
- any similar slat, bar, rung, stay, etc.
- a stick or staff
- a set of verses, or lines, of a song or poem; stanza
- Music staff (sense )
Origin:
ME, taken as sing. of staves, pl. of staf, staff
transitive verb staved or stove, staving
- to puncture or smash, esp. by breaking in a stave or staves
- to beat as with a staff
- to furnish with staves
intransitive verb
to be or become stove in, as a boat; break up or in