I. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a staple crop (= an important one that forms a big part of people's diet )
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staple crops such as rice and wheat
sb’s staple diet (= the food that a group of people or type of animal normally eats )
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For hundreds of years potatoes were their staple diet.
staple gun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
diet
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Attacks on the immorality and decadence of aristocratic culture were the staple diet of purity tracts and speeches.
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The staple diet for most of the coral fishes should be a good dry food.
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It is hard and lacks nutrients and yet is the panda's staple diet .
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Worms are a staple diet and these have been in short supply due to the summer drought.
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They could catch and eat more of their staple diet - worms and insects - surviving in accordance with the laws of natural selection.
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In living-rooms throughout the country, violence, gratuitous and graphic, is often the staple diet of the video generation.
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Reindeer moss, the staple diet of the deer herds, was also said to have disappeared completely.
food
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Retail prices of staple foods and consumer goods remained unchanged.
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The staple food of mankind in the Middle Ages was bread, and his staple drink ale or water.
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They may also be following the migration of their staple food , anchovies.
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The fortification of staple foods with folic acid to prevent neural tube defects may be unwisely delayed on this account.
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A recently-introduced ban on the fishing of sand eels, the birds' staple food , has been credited with the success.
■ VERB
become
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It rapidly became a staple , and has remained the major crop throughout the modern period.
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The Food Lion suit has been closely watched because hidden-camera reports have become a popular staple of network newsmagazine shows.
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It was what we know as recitative and it became the staple of opera in musica.
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So what should have become a staple of the science diet has turned into the Christmas turkey of the curriculum.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Ice skating has long been a staple of ABC's sports programming.
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Tortillas are a staple of Mexican cooking.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Alternative medicine is now a staple of continuing education at Harvard University Medical School.
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It is a staple of the multilateral trading system, and is extended by the United States to all but a handful.
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Rape is a staple in pagan myth, and killing still more commonplace.
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The length of the cable then rests on the staples and can always be lifted off for painting and cleaning.
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There are some assured visual touches, a staple of any Czech film.
II. verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As a schoolboy prank he leaned forward to staple the boy in front's jacket to his chair.
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Finally, staple them together and flip through them to see them move.
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Industry magazines have thinned down so much with the collapse of internet advertising that they can now be stapled rather than bound.
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Select the ones that have held bottles, because they will be stapled at the bottom and are much stronger.
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There was a credit-card slip stapled to the receipt and I tucked both in my pocket for later inspection.
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We had to staple a polythene vapour barrier to the rafters of a pitched roof.
III. adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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In Brazil, the black bean is a staple crop.