Dictionary

stave en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• stāv
• (UK) audio
• (US) audio
• /steɪv/

Etymology

Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff.

Meanings

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, barrel, pail, etc.
   • For the Cherubims ſpread foorth their wings ouer the place of the Arke, and the Cherubims couered the Arke and the ſtaues thereof, aboue. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 5:8:
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. A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
   • Let us chaunt a passing stave / In honour of that hero brave. 1815, William Wordsworth, Rob Roy's Grave:
4. The set of five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff.
5. (rare) The initial consonant, consonant cluster, or vowel of a word which rhymes with another word with the same consonant or vowel in stave-rhyme.
   • Ley, in his work on the Metrical Forms of Hebrew Poetry, 1866, has taken too little notice of these frequently occurring alliteration staves; Lagarde communicated to me (8th Sept. 1846) his view of the stave-rhyme in the Book[…] 1874, Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, page 73:
   • This may seem sparse and incomplete, but is reminiscent of the Old Norse stave rhyme technique in which one avoided two alliterating staves in one dipod – which the poets of that time considered superfluous. 2005, Studia musicologica Norvegica:
   • ... consisting only of the two staves, folches . . . fehta. […] Line 63 contains the two-stave rhyme, aerist ... asckim; the suggested reduplicative rhyme [...] is technically doubtful according to the standards we have[…] 1975, Studies in Medieval Culture, page 11:
   • [The] stave that binds the two halves of the line together the on-verse must be classified as D in spite of the f-stave . . stave-rhyme (OED s.v. Stave sb.) 1974, John Collins Pope, Old English Studies in Honour of John C. Pope, page 193:
6. A sign, symbol or sigil, including rune or rune-like characters, used in Icelandic magic.
7. A staff or walking stick.

Forms

Coordinates

head · hoop

Deriveds

stave-rhyme · staveless · stave acre · bowstave · wring-stave · stave-acre · quarter-stave · stavewood · stavesman · runestave · stave church · bookstave · Staver · stave rhyme · Jedburgh stave

Translations (96)

de Daube (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · ota شندره (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · bg петолиние (parallel lines to write music on) · nl strofe (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · ru клёпка (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · ru стих (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · ro doagă (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · hu donga (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · pt aduela (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · fr fuseau (bar) · id sangkar nada (parallel lines to write music on) · ru но́тный стан (parallel lines to write music on) · sv notrad (parallel lines to write music on) · vec dóa (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · cmn 棒 (bar) · mi tārawa (parallel lines to write music on) · cs tyč (bar) · nl vers (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · sk dúha (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · de Vers (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · cs hůlka (walking stick) · es doga (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · cmn 拐杖 (walking stick) · sv tunnstav (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · cmn 段 (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · id paranada (parallel lines to write music on) · it pentagramma (parallel lines to write music on) · de Strophe (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · sv lagg (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · bg строфа (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · ru шест (bar) · id notenbalk (parallel lines to write music on) · hu rúd (bar) · rsk дуга (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · es duela (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · nl staf (walking stick) · cs verš (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · fr douve (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · gl caxato (walking stick) · cs dužina (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · hu kottavonal (parallel lines to write music on) · mk петолиние (parallel lines to write music on) · cs strofa (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · fi kävelykeppi (walking stick) · de Sprosse (bar) · cmn 条 (bar) · ru па́лка (bar) · fi nuottiviivasto (parallel lines to write music on) · ru трость (walking stick) · cs notová osnova (parallel lines to write music on) · mk строфа (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · fr portée (parallel lines to write music on) · tr şendere (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · ja 五線 (parallel lines to write music on) · it piolo (bar) · nl balk (parallel lines to write music on) · de Notensystem (parallel lines to write music on) · ro doagă (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · gl doela (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · hu pálca (walking stick) · ru нотоно́сец (parallel lines to write music on) · ru строфа́ (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · scn duga (bar) · cs tyčka (bar) · mk дага (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · ca doga (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · fi lauta (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · nb stav (walking stick) · ru клюка́ (walking stick) · fr bâton (walking stick) · de Notenlinien (parallel lines to write music on) · cmn 桶板 (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · scn duga (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · nl notenbalk (parallel lines to write music on) · ru по́сох (walking stick) · gl banzo (bar) · sv notsystem (parallel lines to write music on) · id balok not (parallel lines to write music on) · fi puola (bar) · fi säkeistö (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · fi sauva (walking stick) · gl leiva (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · es estrofa (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · cmn 节 (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · hy հնգագիծ (parallel lines to write music on) · cs hůl (bar) · mk стих (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · fr strophe (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · bg дъга (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · nl sport (bar) · cmn 譜表 /谱表 (parallel lines to write music on) · es pentagrama (parallel lines to write music on) · it strofa (metrical portion; stanza; staff) · it doga (narrow strip, a part of a vessel) · cmn 五線譜 /五线谱 (parallel lines to write music on) · uk кле́пка (narrow strip, a part of a vessel)

stave en · VERB

Pronunciation

• stāv
• (UK) audio
• (US) audio
• /steɪv/

Etymology

Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To fit or furnish with staves or rundles.
   • vpon paine of death to bring it out and to ſtaue it 1603, Richard Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes, […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
2. (transitive, usually, with 'in') To break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst.
   • to stave in a cask
   • A little to one side a cask was being staved for the troopers who had come with the Duke; and on all the noisy, moving scene and the flags that streamed from the roofs and windows, and the shifting crowd, poured the ruddy light of a great bon-feu that burned on the farther side of the way. 1897, Stanley John Weyman, chapter IV, in Shrewsbury:
   • […]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. 1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:
   • And therefore three cheers for Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave my soul, Jove himself cannot. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 7, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
   • A great Sea constant runs here upon the Rocks, and before they got to Land their Boat was stav’d in Pieces […] 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, page 12:
   • 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. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 22”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
3. (transitive, with 'off') To push, or keep off, as with a staff.
   • The condition of a servant staves him off to a distance. 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
4. (transitive, usually, with 'off') To delay by force or craft; to drive away.
   • Congress had authorized seeds to be granted to the farmers there to stave hunger, but President Cleveland vetoed the bill. 2009, Brent Stransky, The Young Conservative's Field Guide, page 39:
   • We ate grass in an attempt to stave off our hunger.
5. (archaic, intransitive, rare) To burst in pieces by striking against something.
   • But Donald would not hear of that proposal at all, assuring the Prince that it was impossible for them to return to the land again, because the squall was against them, and that if they should steer for the rock the boat would undoubtedly stave to pieces and all of them behoved to be drowned, for there was no [fol. 284.] possibility of saving any one life amongst them upon such a dangerous rock, where the sea was dashing with the utmost violence. 1746, Robert Forbes, The Lyon in Mourning, volume 1, page 164:
6. (dated, dialectal, intransitive) To walk or move rapidly.
   • He turned and blundered out of the house, stumbling over a chair and trying a wrong door on the way, and went staving down the street as if afraid to look behind him. 1845, The Century Magazine, volume 48, page 41:
7. To suffer, or cause to be lost by breaking the cask.
   • All the […]wine in the city hath been staved. 1615, George Sandys, “(please specify the page)”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC:
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

Forms

Deriveds

stave in · stave off

Translations (2)

mi komeme (break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst) · bg пробивам (break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst)