STAPLE

noun a small pit.

2. staple ·adj fit to be sold; marketable.

3. staple ·noun unmanufactured material; raw material.

4. staple ·noun hence: place of supply; source; fountain head.

5. staple ·noun the principal constituent in anything; chief item.

6. staple ·noun a district granted to an abbey.

7. staple ·vt to sort according to its staple; as, to staple cotton.

8. staple ·adj established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled; as, a staple trade.

9. staple ·adj pertaining to, or being market of staple for, commodities; as, a staple town.

10. staple ·noun a shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.

11. staple ·adj regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.

12. staple ·noun the fiber of wool, cotton, flax, or the like; as, a coarse staple; a fine staple; a long or short staple.

13. staple ·noun a loop of iron, or a bar or wire, bent and formed with two points to be driven into wood, to hold a hook, pin, or the like.

14. staple ·noun a settled mart; an emporium; a city or town to which merchants brought commodities for sale or exportation in bulk; a place for wholesale traffic.

15. staple ·noun the principal commodity of traffic in a market; a principal commodity or production of a country or district; as, wheat, maize, and cotton are great staples of the united states.