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Stave   /steɪv/   Listen
verb
Stave  v. t.  (past & past part. stove or staved; pres. part. staving)  
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."
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 guiltless, to stave off a chance That breaks upon them perilously."
4.
To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask. "All the wine in the city has been staved."
5.
To furnish with staves or rundles.
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.


Stave  v. i.  (past & past part. stove or staved; pres. part. staving)  To burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash into fragments. "Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank."


noun
Stave  n.  
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."
4.
(Mus.) The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or printed; the staff (7). (Obs.)
Stave jointer, a machine for dressing the edges of staves.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Stave" Quotes from Famous Books



... so. I dare say I shall become quite good again. Ah, your new Judaisms will never appeal like the old, with all its imperfections. They will never keep the race together through shine and shade as that did. They do but stave off the inevitable dissolution. It is beautiful—that old childlike faith in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, that patient waiting through the centuries for the Messiah who even to ...
— Children of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill
... their sense at once. Dr Pendle was the priest who was to drop the money on Southberry Heath, and Jentham the knave who was to pick it up. As certainly as though the man had given chapter and verse, Cargrim understood his enigmatic stave. His mind flashed back to the memory that Dr Pendle intended to ride over to Southberry in the morning, across the heath. Without doubt he had agreed to meet there this man who boasted that he could ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume
... Ap-Rhaiader, and to the health of his noble descendant and worthy representative!" This example was followed by all the gentlemen present. The harp struck up a triumphal strain; and, the old squire already mentioned, vociferating the first stave, they sang, ...
— Headlong Hall • Thomas Love Peacock
... complete, went back on the postponed clause of the First Article, involving the all-important question of the offer of the Kingship. Through two sittings that day, and again on March 25 (New Year's Day, 1657), there was a very anxious and earnest debate with closed doors, the opposition trying to stave off the final vote by two motions for adjournment. These having failed, the final vote was taken (March 25); when, by a majority of 123 to 62, the Kingship clause was carried in this amended form: "That your Highness will be pleased to assume the name, style, title, dignity, and ...
— The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 • David Masson
... for you he bath a stave, Latest of the bright bevy. On gentle hearts and spirits brave The toll of love you'll levy. We trust that fortune may prove fair, And life's long pathway rosy, And love attend the Royal pair, ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, December 19, 1891 • Various


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