Adjacent Words

Staves definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STAVES, plu. of staff, when applied to a stick, is pronounced with a as in ask, the Italian sound.

Merriam Webster's

plural of staff

Oxford Reference Dictionary

pl. of STAFF(1) n. 3.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Staves Staves, n.; pl. of Staff. ``Banners, scarves and staves.'' --R. Browning. Also (st[=a]vz), pl. of Stave.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Staff Staff, n.; pl. Staves (? or ?; 277) or Staffsin senses 1-9, Staffs in senses 10, 11. [AS. st[ae]f a staff; akin to LG. & D. staf, OFries stef, G. stab, Icel. stafr, Sw. staf, Dan. stav, Goth. stabs element, rudiment, Skr. sth[=a]pay to cause to stand, to place. See Stand, and cf. Stab, Stave, n.] 1. A long piece of wood; a stick; the long handle of an instrument or weapon; a pole or srick, used for many purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or pike. And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar to bear it withal. --Ex. xxxviii. 7. With forks and staves the felon to pursue. --Dryden. 2. A stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a person walking; hence, a support; that which props or upholds. ``Hooked staves.'' --Piers Plowman. The boy was the very staff of my age. --Shak. He spoke of it [beer] in ``The Earnest Cry,'' and likewise in the ``Scotch Drink,'' as one of the staffs of life which had been struck from the poor man's hand. --Prof. Wilson. 3. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office; as, a constable's staff. Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, Was broke in twain. --Shak. All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them. --Hayward. 4. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed. 5. The round of a ladder. [R.] I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves. --Dr. J. Campbell (E. Brown's Travels). 6. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave. Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical. --Dryden. 7. (Mus.) The five lines and the spaces on which music is written; -- formerly called stave. 8. (Mech.) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch. 9. (Surg.) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder. 10. [From Staff, 3, a badge of office.] (Mil.) An establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. The general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution. See ['E]tat Major. 11. Hence: A body of assistants serving to carry into effect the plans of a superintendant or manager; as, the staff of a newspaper. Jacob's staff (Surv.), a single straight rod or staff, pointed and iron-shod at the bottom, for penetrating the ground, and having a socket joint at the top, used, instead of a tripod, for supporting a compass. Staff angle (Arch.), a square rod of wood standing flush with the wall on each of its sides, at the external angles of plastering, to prevent their being damaged. The staff of life, bread. ``Bread is the staff of life.'' --Swift. Staff tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Celastrus, mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. The American species (C. scandens) is commonly called bittersweet. See 2d Bittersweet, 3 (b) . To set, or To put, up, or down, one's staff, to take up one's residence; to lodge. [Obs.]

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

stavz (baddim): Ten or eleven Hebrew words are used in the Old Testament to describe various staffs, bars, and wooden rods used by the Hebrews (compare STAFF; ROD; SCEPTER). One word only is used to describe the staves or wooden poles used for carrying the holy furniture of the tabernacle from place to place. That word is badh (plural baddim), which occurs 28 times in Exodus and Numbers and 5 times in Kings and Chronicles (compare also Job 17:16; Ho 11:6). The only passage in which these staves are mentioned by another name is 1Ch 15:15, where the staves used for carrying the ark from its captivity into Jerusalem are called motah. The reason for this probably is that the original baddim had been lost during the long absence of the sacred chest from its home in the tabernacle.

In the wilderness wanderings, arrangements were made that four items of the holy furniture of the portable tabernacle should be carried on the shoulders of Levites, suspended on these staves. These were the golden altar of incense, the golden table for shewbread, the brazen altar of sacrifice, and the ark of the covenant (Ex 35:12-16).

In the case of the large altar of sacrifice, which was in reality a hollow wooden chest covered with brass (bronze) plates (see ALTAR), four rings were attached to the brass grating which rose midway in the chest, and through these rings the staves passed. The staves were of acacia wood and were covered with brass plating. In the case of the three golden utensils of the sanctuary, the staves were of acacia wood, covered with gold plates.

The last mention of any of these staves is in 1Ki 8:7-9, where it is stated of the ark, in the holy of holies in Solomon's Temple, that the ends of its staves were seen by anyone standing in the adjoining holy place, before (i.e. east of) the oracle. Priests only might view them there, the curtain being withdrawn. The writer of 1Ki 8 adds that the staves were thus visible when he wrote, an item of evidence worthy of note as to the date of the document.

W. Shaw Caldecott