staff

Meanings

Noun

• A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
• A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
• The employees of a business.
• A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.^W
• A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.
• A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
• The rung of a ladder.
• A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
• An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
• The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
• 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.
• Misspelling of staph

Verb

• To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.

Related

Similar words

• stave
• personnel

Origin

• From Middle English staf, from Old English stæf, from Proto-West Germanic *stab, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Swedish stav.
• Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced from German Stab.