A Quick and Simple Dictionary

stave

1. Noun.  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. Noun.  One of the bars or rounds of a rack, rungs of a ladder, etc; one of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel.
3. Noun.  (poetry) A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
4. Noun.  The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff.
5. Noun.  A staff or walking stick.
6. Verb.  (transitive) To break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst. Often with ''in''.
7. Verb.  (transitive) To push, as with a staff. With ''off''.
8. Verb.  (transitive) To delay by force; to drive away. Often with ''off''.
9. Verb.  (intransitive) To burst in pieces by striking against something.