staves
/steɪvz/US/stævz/
staves is the plural of staff.
staves is the plural of stave.
staves is the third-person singular simple present indicative of stave.
Meaning of staff
Noun
staff (countable and uncountable, plural staffs or staves or staff)
- A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
- And thus ſhall ye eate it [the lamb]: with your loines girded, your ſhooes on your feet, and your ſtaffe in your hand: and ye ſhall eate it in haſte: it is the Lords Paſſeouer.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 12:11, column 2
- A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
- People employed by a business or other organisation.
- The company employed 10 new members of staff this month.
- A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.
- Synonyms:
- personnel
- A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.
- a constable's staff
- A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
Meaning of stave
Noun
stave (plural staves)
- 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
- One of the bars or rounds of a rack, rungs of a ladder, etc; one of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel
- 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
- The set of five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff.
- 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
- A sign, symbol or sigil, including rune or rune-like characters, used in Icelandic magic.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Staves
Staves (countable and uncountable, plural Staveses)
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Staves
Staves
- plural of Stave
Forms of staves
| plural | Staveses |
|---|
Origin of staves
Variant of Staff, with excrescent -s.
Phrases with staves
- staves in
- staves off
- tau staves
- bass staves
- flag staves
- vine staves
- grand staves
- level staves
- offset staves
- ragged staves
- treble staves
- Jeddart staves
5 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with staves
Questions about staves
- What does staves mean?
- Staves means a surname.
- What is staves the plural of?
- Staves is the plural of staff.
- What part of speech is staves?
- Staves is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce staves?
- Staves is pronounced /steɪvz/ (UK).
Words near staves in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: staves (page history and authors); Staves (page history and authors); staff (page history and authors); stave (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-staves.wav.
Cite this entry: “staves.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/staves. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.