The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Staff \Staff\ (st[.a]f), n.; pl. Staves (st[=a]vz or
   st[aum]vz; 277) or Staffs (st[.a]fs) in senses 1-9,
   Staffs in senses 10, 11. [AS. staef 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 stick, used for many
      purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or
      pike.
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            And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of
            the altar to bear it withal.          --Ex. xxxviii.
                                                  7.
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            With forks and staves the felon to pursue. --Dryden.
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   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.
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            The boy was the very staff of my age. --Shak.
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            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.
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   3. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a
      badge of office; as, a constable's staff.
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            Methought this staff, mine office badge in court,
            Was broke in twain.                   --Shak.
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            All his officers brake their staves; but at their
            return new staves were delivered unto them.
                                                  --Hayward.
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   4. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
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   5. The round of a ladder. [R.]
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            I ascended at one [ladder] of six hundred and
            thirty-nine staves.                   --Dr. J.
                                                  Campbell (E.
                                                  Brown's
                                                  Travels).
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   6. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded,
      the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
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            Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for
            an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical. --Dryden.
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   7. (Mus.) The five lines and the spaces on which music is
      written; -- formerly called stave.
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   8. (Mech.) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
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   9. (Surg.) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife,
      used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
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   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.
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   11. Hence: A body of assistants serving to carry into effect
       the plans of a superintendent or manager; sometimes used
       for the entire group of employees of an enterprise,
       excluding the top management; as, the staff of a
       newspaper.
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   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 (Celastrus scandens) is commonly called
      bittersweet. See 2d Bittersweet, 3
       (b) .

   To set up one's staff, To put up one's staff, To set
   down one's staff or To put down one's staff, to take up
      one's residence; to lodge. [Obs.]
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stave \Stave\, v. i.
   To burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash
   into fragments.
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         Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank.
                                                  --Longfellow.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stave \Stave\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Staved (st[=a]vd) or
   Stove (st[=o]v); p. pr. & vb. n. Staving.] [From Stave,
   n., or Staff, n.]
   1. To break in a stave or the staves of; to break a hole in;
      to burst; -- often with in; as, to stave a cask; to stave
      in a boat.
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   2. To push, as with a staff; -- with off.
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            The condition of a servant staves him off to a
            distance.                             --South.
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   3. To delay by force or craft; to drive away; -- usually with
      off; as, to stave off the execution of a project.
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            And answered with such craft as women use,
            Guilty or guiltless, to stave off a chance
            That breaks upon them perilously.     --Tennyson.
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   4. To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.
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            All the wine in the city has been staved. --Sandys.
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   5. To furnish with staves or rundles. --Knolles.
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   6. To render impervious or solid by driving with a calking
      iron; as, to stave lead, or the joints of pipes into which
      lead has been run.
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   To stave and tail, in bear baiting, (to stave) to interpose
      with the staff, doubtless to stop the bear; (to tail) to
      hold back the dog by the tail. --Nares.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Stave \Stave\ (st[=a]v), n. [From Staff, and corresponding to
   the pl. staves. See Staff.]
   1. One of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron
      plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering,
      or lining of a vessel or structure; esp., one of the
      strips which form the sides of a cask, a pail, etc.
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   2. One of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel; one of the
      bars or rounds of a rack, a ladder, etc.
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   3. A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
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            Let us chant a passing stave
            In honor of that hero brave.          --Wordsworth.
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   4. (Mus.) The five horizontal and parallel lines on and
      between which musical notes are written or printed; the
      staff[7]. [Obs.]
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   Stave jointer, a machine for dressing the edges of staves.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

stave
    n 1: (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the
         musical notes are written [syn: staff, stave]
    2: one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a
       barrel or bucket [syn: stave, lag]
    3: a crosspiece between the legs of a chair [syn: rung,
       round, stave]
    v 1: furnish with staves; "stave a ladder"
    2: burst or force (a hole) into something [syn: stave, stave
       in]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

178 Moby Thesaurus words for "stave":
   Malacca cane, Spenserian stanza, advocate, alpenstock, antistrophe,
   arm, athletic supporter, back, backbone, backing, bandeau, bar,
   bar line, barrel, baton, beam, bearer, billet, board, boarding,
   book, bra, brace, bracer, bracket, brassiere, bucket, bullet,
   burden, buttress, cane, canto, carrier, cervix, chorus, clapboard,
   cord, cordwood, corset, couplet, crook, crosier, cross,
   cross-staff, crutch, crutch-stick, deal, degree, distich, doorstep,
   driftwood, envoi, epode, firewood, footrest, footstep,
   foundation garment, fulcrum, girdle, guy, guywire, handstaff,
   hardwood, haste, hasten, heptastich, hexastich, highball, hotfoot,
   hustle, jock, jockstrap, lath, lathing, lathwork, ledger line,
   line, lituus, log, lumber, mainstay, maintainer, mast, measure,
   monostich, neck, octastich, octave, octet, ottava rima, panelboard,
   paneling, panelwork, pastoral staff, paterissa, pentastich, plank,
   planking, plyboard, plywood, pole, post, prop, puncheon,
   quarterstaff, quatrain, refrain, reinforce, reinforcement,
   reinforcer, rest, resting place, rhyme royal, rigging, riser,
   round, rundle, rung, scale, septet, sestet, sextet, shake,
   sheathing, sheathing board, sheeting, shillelagh, shingle,
   shoulder, shroud, sideboard, siding, slab, slat, softwood, space,
   spine, splat, spoke, sprit, staff, stair, standing rigging, stanza,
   stay, step, step stool, stepping-stone, stick, stick of wood,
   stiffener, stovewood, strain, strengthener, string, strophe,
   support, supporter, sustainer, swagger stick, swanking stick,
   syllable, tercet, terza rima, tetrastich, three-by-four, timber,
   timbering, timberwork, tread, triplet, tristich, two-by-four,
   upholder, verse, walking stick, weatherboard, wood