Meaning & use
staves
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Plural of staff or stave: long, narrow strips of wood, such as those used to build barrels, or the five-line sets used to write music.
See it in a sentence
The cooper fitted curved staves together to form the wine barrel.
The composer sketched melodies directly onto blank staves in her notebook.
A note on using this word
Staves is one of two accepted plurals of 'staff' (the other being 'staffs'), and it's the standard plural used in music and woodworking contexts.
Words with a similar meaning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. verb
Third-person singular present of the verb stave, meaning to break in or ward off.
He staves off hunger with a quick snack between meetings.
Make it your own
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