[stey-pler] 
| 1. | a machine for fastening together sheets of paper or the like, with wire staples. |
| 2. | a wire-stitching machine, esp. one used in bookbinding. |
| 3. | Also called staple gun. a hand-powered tool used for driving heavy-duty wire staples into wood and other materials. |
[stey-puh
l] noun, adjective, verb, -pled, -pling.| 1. | a principal raw material or commodity grown or manufactured in a locality. |
| 2. | a principal commodity in a mercantile field; goods in steady demand or of known or recognized quality. |
| 3. | a basic or necessary item of food: She bought flour, sugar, salt, and other staples. |
| 4. | a basic or principal item, thing, feature, element, or part: Cowboy dramas are a staple on television. |
| 5. | the fiber of wool, cotton, flax, rayon, etc., considered with reference to length and fineness. |
| 6. | Textiles. a standard length of textile fibers, representing the average of such fibers taken collectively, as short-staple or long-staple cotton. |
| 7. | History/Historical. a town or place appointed by royal authority as the seat of a body of merchants having the exclusive right of purchase of certain classes of goods for export. |
| 8. | chief or prominent among the products exported or produced by a country or district; chiefly or largely dealt in or consumed. |
| 9. | basic, chief, or principal: staple industries. |
| 10. | principally used: staple subjects of conversation. |
| 11. | to sort or classify according to the staple or fiber, as wool. |
| sta·pler 1 (stā'plər) n. One who deals in staple goods or staple fibers. |
| sta·pler 2 (stā'plər) n. A device used to bind material together by means of staples. |