ENGLISH
REFERENCE

stave

n. countable
C2 Proficiency US //ˈsteɪv// UK //stˈeɪv// stave Archaic Dialect

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.


SIMPLE

The cooper carefully shaped each wooden stave for the wine barrel.

CONTEXTUAL

The musician noticed a mistake on the third stave of the sheet music and corrected it with a pencil.

COMPLEX

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.

Synonyms
Origin

Back-formation from staves, the plural of staff.

Usage

In musical contexts, 'staff' is the more common term in American English, while 'stave' is frequently used in British English.

Idioms1 entry

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