staff

Less common meanings

5. 5
   music linesnouncountable or uncountable

   A stave; the framework of horizontal lines, one above another, used for writing down musical notes.

   The melody sits high on the staff, well above middle C.

   Piano music uses two staves joined by a brace.

   UsagePlural staves or staffs.

   Similarstave

   Note

   Notes are said to sit on the staff, and pitch is read from height: the higher a note sits on it, the higher it sounds. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • In ordinary pitched staff notation, vertical position indicates pitch, with higher pitches written higher. en.wikipedia.org
6. 6
   flag polenouncountable or uncountable

   A pole on which a flag is raised and displayed.

   Marines lowered the colors slowly down the staff at dusk.

   A bronze eagle topped the staff above the courthouse.

   Similarflagpole, pole

7. 7
   nounobsoletecountable or uncountable

   A group of verses forming a unit that repeats its pattern through a poem or song; a stanza.

   Mr. Cowley had found out, that no kind of Staff is proper for an Heroick Poem; as being all too lirical:

   1697, Virgil, “To the Most Honourable John, Lord Marquess of Normanby, Earl of Mulgrave, &c. and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the…

   Similarstanza, verse

   Note

   In verse, the word does the work of stanza and shares the alternative form stave. The dedication of the 1697 Virgil to the Marquess of Normanby reports Cowley's view that no kind of staff suits a heroic poem, being "all too lyrical." The word names stanzaic, song-like verse, not the continuous lines of epic. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Dryden's translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
   • The work includes a dedication to the Marquess of Normanby. en.wikisource.org
   • The dedication reports Cowley's judgment that every kind of staff is too lyrical for heroic poetry; the quotation modernizes the spelling. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   ladder rungnounarchaiccountable or uncountable

   A rung of a ladder; one of the crosspieces that serve as steps.

   I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.

   1739, John Campbell, The Travels and Adventures of Edward Bevan

   Note

   A piece of ladder vocabulary that has given way to rung. The physician Edward Browne, describing a mine in his Brief Account of Some Travels (1673), tells of a single ladder "of six hundred and thirty-nine staves." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Staff historically meant a rung of a ladder. en.wiktionary.org
   • Edward Browne was a physician. history.rcp.ac.uk
   • Edward Browne wrote A Brief Account of Some Travels, first published in 1673. wellcomecollection.org
   • Browne's account describes entering and leaving a mine using ladders. archive.org
   • Browne describes one ladder with 639 staves; the quotation reproduces his wording with modernized hyphenation. archive.org
9. 9
   noun

   A mixture of plaster and fiber used as a temporary exterior covering for buildings.
10. 10
    noun

    An arbor, or axle, on which a wheel or pinion of a watch turns.
11. 11
    noun

    A physical token, usually a rod, whose possession authorizes a train to travel over a single-track section between two points.

    The unusual rolling stock, the fare collection methods, and the exchange of train staffs make it quite clear that here is something out of the ordinary run of suburban electric lines.

    1951, R. K. Kirkland, “The Wimbledon and West Croydon Line of the Southern Region”
12. 12
    noun

    A grooved instrument that directs the gorget, or knife, in the operation of cutting a stone from the bladder.