stave
n.one of the long, thin pieces of wood that form the side of a barrel or bucket. It can also mean the five lines that music is written on.
n.one of the narrow strips of wood placed side by side to form the body of a barrel, cask, or tub; also refers to the set of five horizontal lines and four spaces used in musical notation.
“The cooper carefully shaped each wooden stave for the wine barrel.”
“The musician noticed a mistake on the third stave of the sheet music and corrected it with a pencil.”
“As the barrel aged, one stave began to warp, creating a small gap that allowed the spirit to evaporate more quickly than the rest of the batch.”
In musical contexts, 'staff' is the more common term in American English, while 'stave' is frequently used in British English.
“United officials were quick to make it known the number nine shirt Rashford wore in Poland was not permanent, to stave off any complaints from those tempted to buy one.”
“Rather like Winnie in Happy Days, their stories stave off the terror of the outside and loneliness of the silence inside, at least for a while.”
Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.