Definition

1. Noun:

   • A narrow strip of wood forming part of the sides of a container: A stave is one of several thin, shaped pieces of wood that are fitted together to form the curved side of a barrel, cask, or similar vessel.
   • A rung or crosspiece: A stave can be a horizontal support, such as a rung on a ladder or a crosspiece between the legs of a chair.
   • A set of five parallel lines for musical notation: In music, a stave (also called a staff) is the set of five horizontal lines and four spaces on which musical notes are written.

2. Verb:

   • To break or crush something inwards: To stave means to burst, force a hole into, or crush something, especially the side of a hollow object like a barrel or boat.
   • To fit or furnish with staves: To stave means to make or provide something (like a barrel) with the narrow strips of wood that form its sides.
   • To break a hole in a ladder's rung: This is a specific use meaning to break a rung (a stave) of a ladder.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The cooper replaced a cracked stave in the old wine barrel.
  • He carefully climbed, making sure each stave of the ladder could hold his weight.
  • The composer wrote the melody on the treble stave.

• Verb:

  • The collision staved in the hull of the small boat.
  • The artisan staved the oak to create a watertight cask.
  • Be careful not to stave that ladder when you move it.

Advanced Usage

• "to stave in": To crush or break something inwards, creating a hole or dent.

  • The falling rock staved in the roof of the car.

• "to stave off": (Phrasal Verb) To delay or prevent something bad from happening, often with effort.

  • She drank soup to stave off a cold.
  • The company took loans to stave off bankruptcy.

Variants and Related Words

• Staff (noun): The more common term for the set of five lines in musical notation. "Stave" is a variant, especially in British English.
• Staved, stove (verb): Both "staved" and "stove" are accepted as the past tense and past participle of the verb "stave," particularly in the context of breaking in (e.g., ).

Synonyms

• Noun (strip of wood): Slat, plank, strip.
• Noun (rung): Rung, crosspiece, step.
• Verb (break in): Breach, smash, crush, rupture.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Stave off: To ward off, avert, or keep at bay.
  • They staved off hunger by eating berries.

Related Idioms

• To stave in one's head: An archaic or literary expression meaning to crush someone's skull.
  • The villain threatened to stave in his head with a club.

Noun

1. a crosspiece between the legs of a chair
2. one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket
3. (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written

Verb

1. burst or force (a hole) into something
2. furnish with staves
   • stave a ladder