staff definition | Dictionary.com

staff

1 [staf, stahf]

,noun, plural staffs for 1–5, 9; staves [steyv]

or staffs for 6–8, 10, 11; adjective, verb

–noun

1.	a group of persons, as employees, charged with carrying out the work of an establishment or executing some undertaking.

2.	a group of assistants to a manager, superintendent, or executive.

3.	a member of a staff.

Military.

a.	a body of officers without command authority, appointed to assist a commanding officer.

b.	the parts of any army concerned with administrative matters, planning, etc., rather than with actual participation in combat.

5.	those members of an organization serving only in an auxiliary or advisory capacity on a given project. Compare line ¹ (def. 38).

6.	a stick, pole, or rod for aid in walking or climbing, for use as a weapon, etc.

7.	a rod or wand serving as a symbol of office or authority, as a crozier, baton, truncheon, or mace.

8.	a pole on which a flag is hung or displayed.

9.	something that supports or sustains.

10.	Also, stave. Music. a set of horizontal lines, now five in number, with the corresponding four spaces between them, on which music is written.

11.	Archaic. the shaft of a spear, lance, etc.

–adjective

12.	of or pertaining to a military or organizational staff: a staff officer; staff meetings.

13.	(of a professional person) employed on the staff of a corporation, publication, institution, or the like rather than being self-employed or practicing privately: a staff writer; staff physicians at the hospital.

–verb (used with object)

14.	to provide with a staff of assistants or workers: She staffed her office with excellent secretaries.

15.	to serve on the staff of.

16.	to send to a staff for study or further work (often fol. by out): The White House will staff out the recommendations before making a decision.

–verb (used without object)

17.	to hire employees, as for a new office or project (sometimes fol. by up): Next month we'll begin staffing up for the reelection campaign.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME staf (n.), OE stæf; c. D staf, G Stab, ON stafr staff, Skt stabh- support

Related forms:

staffless, adjective

Usage note:
See collective noun.

staff

2 [staf, stahf]

–noun

a composition of plaster and fibrous material used for a temporary finish and in ornamental work, as on exposition buildings.

Origin:
1890–95, Americanism; perh. < G Stoff stuff

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To staff

staff¹ (stāf)

n. pl. staffs or staves (stāvz)

1. A stick or cane carried as an aid in walking or climbing.
2. A stout stick used as a weapon; a cudgel.
3. A pole on which a flag is displayed; a flagstaff.
4. A rod or baton carried as a symbol of authority.
5. A group of assistants to a manager, executive, or other person in authority.
6. A group of military officers assigned to assist a commanding officer in an executive or advisory capacity.
7. The personnel who carry out a specific enterprise: the nursing staff of a hospital.
pl. staffs A rule or similar graduated stick used for testing or measuring, as in surveying.
pl. staffs
1. A group of assistants to a manager, executive, or other person in authority.
2. A group of military officers assigned to assist a commanding officer in an executive or advisory capacity.
3. The personnel who carry out a specific enterprise: the nursing staff of a hospital.
Something that serves as a staple or support.
Music A set of horizontal lines and intermediate spaces used in notation to represent a sequence of pitches, in modern notation normally consisting of five lines and four spaces. Also called stave.

tr.v. staffed, staff·ing, staffs

To provide with a staff of workers or assistants.
To serve on the staff of.

[Middle English staf, from Old English stæf.]

staff² (stāf)

n. A building material of plaster and fiber used as an exterior wall covering of temporary buildings, as at expositions.

[Perhaps from German Stoff, stuff.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Staff

Staff\, n. [G. staffiren to fill or fit out, adorn, fr. D. stoffeeren, OF. estoffer, F. ['e]toffer, fr. OF. estoffe stuff, F. ['e]toffe. See Stuff, n.] (Arch.) Plaster combined with fibrous and other materials so as to be suitable for sculpture in relief or in the round, or for forming flat plates or boards of considerable size which can be nailed to framework to make the exterior of a larger structure, forming joints which may afterward be repaired and concealed with fresh plaster.

Staff

Staff\, n.; pl. Staves (? or ?; 277) or Staffsin senses 1-9, Staffs in senses 10, 11. [AS. st[ae]f a staff; akin to LG. & D. staf, OFries stef, G. stab, Icel. stafr, Sw. staf, Dan. stav, Goth. stabs element, rudiment, Skr. sth[=a]pay to cause to stand, to place. See Stand, and cf. Stab, Stave, n.]

1. A long piece of wood; a stick; the long handle of an instrument or weapon; a pole or srick, used for many purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or pike.

And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar to bear it withal. --Ex. xxxviii. 7.

With forks and staves the felon to pursue. --Dryden.

2. A stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a person walking; hence, a support; that which props or upholds. "Hooked staves." --Piers Plowman.

The boy was the very staff of my age. --Shak.

He spoke of it [beer] in "The Earnest Cry," and likewise in the "Scotch Drink," as one of the staffs of life which had been struck from the poor man's hand. --Prof. Wilson.

3. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office; as, a constable's staff.

Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, Was broke in twain. --Shak.

All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them. --Hayward.

4. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.

5. The round of a ladder. [R.]

I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves. --Dr. J. Campbell (E. Brown's Travels).

6. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.

Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical. --Dryden.

7. (Mus.) The five lines and the spaces on which music is written; -- formerly called stave.

8. (Mech.) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.

9. (Surg.) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.

10. [From Staff, 3, a badge of office.] (Mil.) 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. See ['E]tat Major.

11. Hence: A body of assistants serving to carry into effect the plans of a superintendant or manager; as, the staff of a newspaper.

Jacob's staff (Surv.), a single straight rod or staff, pointed and iron-shod at the bottom, for penetrating the ground, and having a socket joint at the top, used, instead of a tripod, for supporting a compass.

Staff angle (Arch.), a square rod of wood standing flush with the wall on each of its sides, at the external angles of plastering, to prevent their being damaged.

The staff of life, bread. "Bread is the staff of life." --Swift.

Staff tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Celastrus, mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. The American species (C. scandens) is commonly called bittersweet. See 2d Bittersweet, 3 (b) .

To set, or To put, up, or down, one's staff, to take up one's residence; to lodge. [Obs.]

Language Translation for : staff

Italian: personale,

German: das Personal,

Japanese: 職員

More Translations »

staff

O.E. stæf "walking stick, strong pole used for carrying, rod used as a weapon" (also, in plural, "letter, character, writing," cf. stæfcræft "grammar"), from P.Gmc. *stabaz (cf. O.S. staf, O.N. stafr, O.Fris. stef, M.L.G., M.Du. staf, O.H.G. stab, Ger. Stab, Goth. *stafs "element;" M.Du. stapel "pillar, foundation"), from PIE base *stebh- "post, stem, to support, place firmly on, fasten" (cf. O.Lith. stabas "idol," Lith. stebas "staff, pillar;" O.C.S. stoboru "pillar;" Skt. stabhnati "supports;" Gk. stephein "to tie around, encircle, wreathe," staphyle "grapevine, bunch of grapes;" O.E. stapol "post, pillar"). Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" is attested from 1702, apparently from Ger., from the notion of the "baton" that is a badge of office or authority (a sense attested in Eng. from 1535). Meaning "group of employees (as at an office or hospital)" is first found 1837. The verb meaning "to provide with a staff of assistants" is from 1859. Staff of life "bread" is from the Biblical phrase "to break the staff of bread" (Lev. xxvi.26), transl. Heb. matteh lekhem.

Main Entry: staff
Pronunciation: 'staf
Function: noun
: the doctors and surgeons regularly attached to a hospital and helping to determine its policies andguide its activities

staff (stāf)
n.

A specific group of workers.
See director.

v. staffed, staff·ing, staffs

To provide with a staff of workers or assistants.
To serve on the staff of.

staff

in the notation of Western music, five parallel horizontal lines that, with a clef, indicate the pitch of musical notes. The invention of the staff is traditionally ascribed to Guido d'Arezzo in about the year 1000, although there are earlier manuscripts in which neumes (signs from which musical notes evolved) are arranged around one or two lines in order to orient the singer. Guido used three or four lines of different colours. A four-line staff is still used to notate plainchant.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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