Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A plural of staff1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- n. Plural form of staff (long, straight stick).
- n. Plural form of stave.
- v. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of stave.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. pl. of staff.
Examples
“Some had bows, some "staves" -- that is, bills, pole-axes, or pikes.”
“64 During one landdag, for example, the governor explained that the transfer of staves is to be strictly controlled "not because we place any importance on their value per se but so that the ... symbol of their [the elders '] authority, given by us to mark their honor, be not violated.”
“58 Retiring elders laid down their staves and new appointees received staves from the governor with "great pleasure," swearing obedience to him with "a handshake before God.”
“I thought if you have more than one staff, they are referred to as staves, not staffs.”
“Or … maybe the staves are the wooden vertical things that make up the walls of the barrel!”
“Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of”
The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Book 43: Zacharias The Challoner Revision
“Page 116 such as staves, excelsior, shingles, veneer boxes, or mine rollers; and (3) those using rough lumber and by the application of skilled labor and the aid of wood-using machinery converting it into such finished products as furniture, etc.”
“The meaning is, Take no change of dress, no additional articles. neither shoes -- that is, change of them. nor yet staves -- The received text here has "a staff," but our version follows another reading, "staves," which is found in the received text of Luke (Lu 9: 3).”
“Instead of entirely consuming their timber, as we are obliged to do, some parts of it are converted into useful articles for exportation, such as staves, scantlings, boards, hoops, poles, etc.”
“The "staves" were gold rings on the corners, which enabled poles to be inserted when the Ark was carried by the Levites, who were the only Hebrew tribe authorized to do so.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘staves’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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strange plurals
words with unusual plurals - singular form being the plural form, obsolete formations without 's', etc.
shoon, crocket, crotchet, quare, aëtheogamous, binoculars, antelope, luggage, police, furniture, aircraft, macaroni and 32 more...
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Words That Can Be Typed Entirely With...
Words made of the following: qwertasdfgzxcvb. I've stood on the shoulders of giants... users mollusque and reesetee made similar lists before I even existed on Wordnik. :)
stewardesses, red tea, waves, axes, wrest, qat, waver, created, dressed, stress, crater, vexes and 50 more...
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E pluribus
Interesting Plurals
cherubim, seraphim, culs-de-sac, adjutants-general, aides-de-camp, passersby, courts-martial, commanders-in-chief, fleurs-de-lis, knickerbockers glory, heirs apparent, billets doux and 97 more...
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Jheti's Words
ordinarily, diacritic, intrinsic, coalesce, salient, valence, crenellations, expurgate, relapse, disconsolate, matriculation, corrugated and 128 more...
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the martian chron
valise, rime, Lazarus, fount, sprocket, okapi, agate, prow, flange, centrifugal pump, russet, bellows and 69 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for staves.
chained_bear Also when talking about those strips of wood that make a barrel. Oh crap. WeirdNet beat me to it. Apr 3, 2008
sionnach The preferred plural form when referring to musical notation; otherwise staffs is preferred. (Garner) Apr 3, 2008