Definitions for: Stave


[n] a crosspiece between the legs of a chair
[n] one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket
[n] (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written
[v] burst or force (a hole) into something



Webster (1913) Definition: Stave, 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.

2. One of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel; one of the
bars or rounds of a rack, a ladder, etc.

3. A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.

Let us chant a passing stave In honor of that hero
brave. --Wordsworth.

4. (Mus.) The five horizontal and parallel lines on and
between which musical notes are written or pointed; the
staff. [Obs.]

Stave jointer, a machine for dressing the edges of staves.


Stave, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stavedor Stove; 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.

2. To push, as with a staff; -- with off.

The condition of a servant staves him off to a
distance. --South.

3. To delay by force or craft; to drive away; -- usually with
off; as, to stave off the execution of a project.

And answered with such craft as women use, Guilty or
guilties, to stave off a chance That breaks upon
them perilously. --Tennyson.

4. To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.

All the wine in the city has been staved. --Sandys.

5. To furnish with staves or rundles. --Knolles.

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.

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.


Stave, v. i.
To burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash
into fragments.

Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank.
--Longfellow.

Synonyms: lag, round, rung, staff, stave in

See Also: barrel, break open, burst, cask, crosspiece, feeding chair, folding chair, highchair, musical notation, rocker, rocking chair, side chair, slat, space, spline, split, staff line, straight chair

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