STAVE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Stave

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/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.

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Etymology of 'Stave'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Stave" Quotes from Famous Books

... connection, however, with this question of food, there is another important consideration. Work is at a standstill. Mobiles and Nationaux who apply forma pauperis receive one franc and a half per diem. Now, at present prices, it is materially impossible for a single man to buy sufficient food to stave off hunger for this sum, how then those who depend upon it for their sustenance, and have wives and families to support out of it, are able to live, it is difficult to understand. Sooner or later the population will have to ...

— Diary of the Besieged Resident in Paris • Henry Labouchere

... country book-keeper, and as he was of religious turn, although attached to no particular denomination, the meeting-houses on every side, hardly excepting the Quakers themselves, delighted to see him drive up on Sundays and tell an anecdote to the children and sing a little air, half-hymn sort, half stave, but always given with a good countenance, which apologized for the worldly notes of it. If any severe interpreter of Christian amusements took the people to task for tolerating such a universal and desultory character, there were others to rise up and ask ...

— Tales of the Chesapeake • George Alfred Townsend

... a draper's shop; mother and sisters in the country; sends them most of her earnings; probably does not take enough food; long hours; constant standing; drinking tea to stave off hunger; and so forth. ...

— The Beautiful Wretch; The Pupil of Aurelius; and The Four Macnicols • William Black

... and surroundings of the Evening Reception, where people stand upright and agonise, balancing a dish of ice-cream. Here conversation reaches its highest pitch of social importance. One must talk or die. Something may be done to stave it off a little by vigorous eating. But the food at such affairs is limited. There comes a point when it is absolutely necessary to ...

— The Hohenzollerns in America - With the Bolsheviks in Berlin and other impossibilities • Stephen Leacock

... at us, more like!" he grumbled. "My opinion, the blighters have shot and burnt themselves into a state o' mind; bloomin' delusion o' grandeur, that's what. Wildest of 'em will rush us to-night, once—maybe twice. We stave 'em off, say: that case, they'll settle down to starve ...

— Dragon's blood • Henry Milner Rideout

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