staple

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Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

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From Anglo-Norman estaple, Old French estaple (“market, (trading) post”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz, from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“post, stem”). Compare staff.

Noun [edit]

staple (plural staples)

  1. (now historical) A town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group.
    • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 73:
      Calais was one of the ‘principal treasures’ of the crown, of both strategic and economic importance. It was home to the staple, the crown-controlled marketplace for England's lucrative textile trade, whose substantial customs and tax revenues flooded into Henry's coffers.
  2. The principal commodity produced in a town or region.
    • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House Is Built, Chapter VIII, Section ii:
      The pastoral industry, which had weathered the severe depression of the early forties by recourse to boiling down the sheep for their tallow, and was now firmly re-established as the staple industry of the colony, was threatened once more with eclipse.
  3. A basic or essential supply.
    Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.
  4. A recurring topic or character.
    • 2010, The Economist, Jul-Aug 2010, p. 27:
      In most countries, rubbish makes headlines only when it is not collected, and stinking sacks lie heaped on the streets. In Britain bins are a front-page staple.
  5. Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.
    Tow is flax with short staple.
Translations [edit]
basic or essential supply
basic food
length of fibers in wool

Verb [edit]

staple (third-person singular simple present staples, present participle stapling, simple past and past participle stapled)

  1. (transitive) To sort according to its staple.
    to staple cotton

Etymology 2 [edit]

A box of staples

Probably from Middle English staple, pillar, post, from Old English stapol (“post, pillar”). See also Old English steppan (“to step”) and Old French estaple (“post”). Consider also stapes (“stirrup”), from Latin.

Noun [edit]

staple (plural staples)

  1. A wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.
  2. A wire fastener used to secure something else by penetrating and curling.
    Can you believe they use staples to hold cars together these days?
  3. A U-shaped metal fastener, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.
    The rancher used staples to attach the barbed wire to the fence-posts.
  4. One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.
    Fortunately, there were staples in the quay wall, and she was able to climb out of the water.
Translations [edit]
wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper
wire fastener in general
U-shaped metal fastener
one of set of rods hammered into structure

Verb [edit]

staple (third-person singular simple present staples, present participle stapling, simple past and past participle stapled)

  1. (transitive) To secure with a staple.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
secure with a staple

Anagrams [edit]

German [edit]

Verb [edit]

staple

  1. First-person singular present of stapeln.
  2. Imperative singular of stapeln.
  3. First-person singular subjunctive I of stapeln.
  4. Third-person singular subjunctive I of stapeln.
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