stave Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written
staff.
noun one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket
lag.
noun a crosspiece between the legs of a chair
round; rung.
verb furnish with staves
- stave a ladder
verb burst or force (a hole) into something
stave in.

From Staff, and corresponding to the pl. staves. See Staff.

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.
One of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel; one of the bars or rounds of a rack, a ladder, etc.
A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
Let us chant a passing stave In honor of that hero brave. Wordsworth.
(Mus.) The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff. Obs.

From Stave, n., or Staff, n.

imperfect & past participle Staved or Stove ; present participle & verbal noun Staving

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.
To push, as with a staff; -- with off.
The condition of a servant staves him off to a distance. South.
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 guilties, to stave off a chance That breaks upon them perilously. Tennyson.
To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.
All the wine in the city has been staved. Sandys.
To furnish with staves or rundles. Knolles.
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 burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash into fragments.
Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank. Longfellow.