staving off

- 2 dictionary results

stave

[steyv]

,noun, verb, staved or stove, stav⋅ing.

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–noun

1.	one of the thin, narrow, shaped pieces of wood that form the sides of a cask, tub, or similar vessel.

2.	a stick, rod, pole, or the like.

3.	a rung of a ladder, chair, etc.

Prosody.

a.	a verse or stanza of a poem or song.

b.	the alliterating sound in a line of verse, as the w-sound in wind in the willows.

5.	Music. staff ¹ (def. 9).

–verb (used with object)

6.	to break in a stave or staves of (a cask or barrel) so as to release the wine, liquor, or other contents.

7.	to release (wine, liquor, etc.) by breaking the cask or barrel.

8.	to break or crush (something) inward (often fol. by in).

9.	to break (a hole) in, esp. in the hull of a boat.

10.	to break to pieces; splinter; smash.

11.	to furnish with a stave or staves.

12.	to beat with a stave or staff.

–verb (used without object)

13.	to become staved in, as a boat; break in or up.

14.	to move along rapidly.

—Verb phrase

15.

stave off,

a.	to put, ward, or keep off, as by force or evasion.

b.	to prevent in time; forestall: He wasn't able to stave off bankruptcy.

Origin:
1125–75; (n.) ME, back formation from staves; (v.) deriv. of the n.

Synonyms:
4. See verse.

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Word Origin & History

stave (n.)

"piece of a barrel," 1750, back-formation from staves (1398), plural of staff (cf. leaves/leaf), possibly from O.E., but not recorded there. The verb (to stave in, past tense stove) is c.1595, originally nautical, on notion of bashing in the staves of a cask and letting out the contents; stave off (c.1624) is lit. "keep off with a staff," as of dogs.

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