noun the round of a ladder.
2. staff ·noun an arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
3. staff ·noun a pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
4. staff ·noun the five lines and the spaces on which music is written;
formerly called stave.
5. staff ·noun the grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
6. staff ·noun a pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office; as, a constable's staff.
7. staff ·noun a series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
8. staff ·noun a stick carried in the hand for support or defense by a person walking; hence, a support; that which props or upholds.
9. staff ·noun hence: a body of assistants serving to carry into effect the plans of a superintendant or manager; as, the staff of a newspaper.
10. staff ·noun a long piece of wood; a stick; the long handle of an instrument or weapon; a pole or srick, used for many purposes; as, a surveyor's staff; the staff of a spear or pike.
11. staff ·noun an establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. the general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution. ·see etat major.
12. staff ·add. ·noun plaster combined with fibrous and other materials so as to be suitable for sculpture in relief or in the round, or for forming flat plates or boards of considerable size which can be nailed to framework to make the exterior of a larger structure, forming joints which may afterward be repaired and concealed with fresh plaster.