Staff
Pronunciation
- RP enPR: stäf, IPA: /stÉ‘Ëf/
- Rhymes: -É‘Ëf
- North America IPA: /ˈstæf/
- Rhymes: -æf
Origin
Old English stæf, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Swedish stav. Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander", attested from 1702, is influenced from German Stab.
Full definition of staff
Noun
staff
(countable and uncountable; plural staffs)- (plural staffs or staves) A long, straight stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
- 1927, F. E. Penny, Pulling the Strings Chapter 4, 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.
- (music, plural staves) A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written.
- (plural staff) The employees of a business.
- 2011, December 16, Denis Campbell, Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients', Most staff do not have the skills to cope with such challenging patients, who too often receive "impersonal" care and suffer from boredom, the first National Audit of Dementia found. It says hospitals should introduce "dementia champions".
- The company employed 10 new members of staff this month.
- (uncountable) A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.Staff (building material)
- A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.a constable's staff
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616)Methought this staff, mine office badge in court,
Was broke in twain. - Abraham Hayward (1801-1884)All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them.
- A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
- (archaic) The rung of a ladder.
- Dr. J. Campbell (E. Brown's Travels)I ascend at one ladder of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.
- A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
- John Dryden (1631-1700)Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical.
- (engineering) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
- (surgery) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
- (military) 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.