• Stave

    Pronunciation

    • enPR: stāv, IPA: /steɪv/
    • Rhymes: -eɪv

    Origin

    Back-formation from {{3}}, the plural of staff.

    Full definition of stave

    Noun

    stave

    (plural staves)
    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. (poetry) A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
      • WordsworthLet us chant a passing stave
        In honour of that hero brave.
    4. The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff.
    5. A staff or walking stick.

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst. Often with in.to stave in a cask
      • 1851, Herman Melville, ,Be careful in the hunt, ye mates. Don’t stave the boats needlessly, ye harpooneers; good white cedar plank is raised full three per cent within the year.
      • 1914 , Edgar Rice Burrows , The Mucker Chapter , …for the jagged butt of the fallen mast was dashing against the ship's side with such vicious blows that it seemed but a matter of seconds ere it would stave a hole in her.
    2. (transitive) To push, as with a staff. With off.
      • SouthThe condition of a servant staves him off to a distance.
    3. (transitive) To delay by force or craft; to drive away. Often with off.to stave off the execution of a project
      • TennysonAnd answered with such craft as women use,
        Guilty or guilties, to stave off a chance
        That breaks upon them perilously.
    4. (intransitive) To burst in pieces by striking against something.
    5. (intransitive) To walk or move rapidly.
    6. To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.
      • SandysAll the wine in the city has been staved.
    7. To furnish with staves or rundles.
    8. To render impervious or solid by driving with a calking iron.to stave lead, or the joints of pipes into which lead has been run

    Derived terms

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