# stave

Pronunciation: say "STAYV" /steɪv/

## Noun

1. One of the narrow wooden strips or iron plates set edge to edge to form the sides or lining of a barrel, cask, or similar vessel.
   - Simple: One of the narrow strips of wood that form the curved side of a barrel or bucket.
   - _Each stave was steamed and bent before being fitted into the barrel's frame._
   - _The cooper replaced two rotten staves to stop the cask from leaking._
4. The set of five horizontal, parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written.
   - Simple: The set of five lines on which music notes are written.
   - _She copied the melody onto a blank stave in her notebook._
   - _The composer crowded too many notes onto a single stave._
5. A strong stick or pole, used for walking or as a staff.
   - Simple: A strong wooden stick used for walking or for support.
   - _The pilgrim walked for miles, his weight resting on a stout stave._
   - _He raised his stave to point at the distant tower._
6. One of the bars or rounded rungs of a ladder or rack, or one of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel.
   - Simple: One of the round bars that form the rungs of a ladder or the bars of a rack.
   - _She gripped each stave as she climbed toward the loft._
   - _A worn stave in the lantern wheel made the gears slip._
8. A metrical division of a poem; a stanza.
   - Simple: A verse or stanza of a poem or song.
   - _The poet revised the closing stave to sharpen its rhyme._
   - _They sang only the first stave of the carol._
11. A sign, symbol, or sigil (often rune-like) used in Icelandic magic.
   - Simple: A magic sign or symbol used in old Icelandic spells.
   - _The manuscript described how to carve a stave for safe travel._
   - _Folk healers inked a stave onto the patient's palm._

## Verb

2. To delay or drive something away by force or cunning.
   - Simple: To hold something back or push it away by force or trickery.
   - _The garrison managed to stave the enemy from the walls for a week._
   - _He staved his creditors with promises and clever excuses._
3. To break a hole in something or crush its side, as by smashing in the staves of a cask.
   - Simple: To smash a hole in something, especially the side of a boat or barrel.
   - _A drifting log can stave the planks of a wooden hull._
   - _The collision staved in the cask, spilling wine across the deck._
7. To push back or keep something away, as with a staff or pole.
   - Simple: To push something away or hold it back, as with a stick.
   - _The boatman staved the barge away from the pier with a long pole._
   - _She raised the broom to stave the dog from the chicken coop._
9. To fit or furnish something with staves or rungs.
   - Simple: To fit something with the wooden bars or rungs that it needs.
   - _The cooper staved the cask with seasoned oak._
   - _They stave each frame with iron rounds before assembly._
10. To be lost, or to cause to be lost, through the breaking of the cask, as wine spilled from a smashed barrel.
   - Simple: To lose liquid, or let it be lost, by breaking the cask that holds it.
   - _Much of the ale staved when the rotten barrels gave way in the hold._
   - _A single bad fall could stave the entire shipment of wine._
12. To make a seam solid or watertight by driving caulking into it with a special iron.
   - Simple: To make a seam watertight by hammering filler into it with a metal tool.
   - _The shipwright staved the planking until no water could seep through._
   - _They stave every seam with oakum and a caulking iron._

## Verb

13. To shatter or split apart on striking against something. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To break apart from hitting something hard.
   - _The cask staved as it crashed onto the stone quay._
   - _Old barrels stave easily when they strike the ground._
14. To walk or move along at a rapid pace. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To walk or move along quickly.
   - _She staved across the moor before the storm broke._
   - _They stave along the lane every morning to catch the train._

## Noun

15. The initial consonant, consonant cluster, or vowel of a word that matches the same sound in another word in stave-rhyme. *(rare)*
   - Simple: The first sound of a word that matches the first sound of another in a kind of rhyme.

## Origin

A back-formation from "staves," the plural of "staff."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stave (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).