# staves

Pronunciation: say "STAYVZ" /steɪvz/

## Noun

1. Plural of staff. — plural of staff.
   - Simple: Plural of staff. Use this form when you mean more than one staff, such as long sticks.
   - _Two carved staves stood propped against the chapel wall._
   - _The monks struck the ground with their staves to mark the rhythm of the chant._
2. Plural of stave. — plural of stave
   - Simple: Plural of stave. Use this form for more than one stave, such as the wooden strips of a barrel.
   - _The old cask fell apart once its iron hoops rusted and the staves came loose._
   - _Workers steamed the oak staves until they bent into the right shape._

## Verb

3. Third-person singular simple present indicative of stave. — third-person singular simple present indicative of stave
   - Simple: Third-person singular present of stave. Use this form with he, she, or it.
   - _A strong cup of coffee staves off her afternoon tiredness._
   - _The new sea wall staves off the worst of the storm surge each year._

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