staple

Meanings

Noun

• A town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group.
• Place of supply; source.
• The principal commodity produced in a town or region.
• A basic or essential supply.
• A recurring topic or character.
• Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.
• Unmanufactured material; raw material.
• A wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.
• A wire fastener used to secure something else by penetrating and curling.
• A U-shaped metal fastener, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.
• One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.
• A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.
• A small pit.
• A district granted to an abbey.
• A post; prop; support

Verb

• To sort according to its staple.
• To secure with a staple.

Adjective

• Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.
• Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.
• Fit to be sold; marketable.
• Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.

Origin

• From Middle English staple, from Anglo-Norman estaple, Old French estaple ("market, (trading) post"), from Late Latin stapula, from Frankish *stapul, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz ("post"), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- ("post, stem"). Compare staff.
• Image:Copper Staples No 50,60.JPG|thumb|A box of staples
• From Middle English stapel ("staple, pillar, post"), from Old English stapol ("post, pillar"), from Proto-West Germanic *stapul, from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz, from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- ("post, stem").
• See also Old English steppan ("to step") and Old French estaple ("post"). Consider also stapes, from Latin. staple (etymology 1).