staith

English

Alternative forms

• stathe

Etymology

From Old Norse stǫð, from Proto-Germanic *staþwō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /steɪθ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪθ

Noun

staith (plural staiths)

1. (obsolete) A shore or a riverbank.

   From staith to staith.

2. (UK, dialect) A landing place; an elevated staging upon a wharf for discharging coal, etc., as from railway cars into vessels.
   • 1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 10:

     The high banks of the rivers of North East England have led to the shipment of coal from staiths by the simple process of shooting it down gravity spouts from bottom-door wagons.

   • 1959 May, R. A. Savill, “The coal traffic of the North Eastern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 273:

     The coal staiths of the North-East coast—for example at Blyth (Northumberland) and at Dunston-on-Tyne—are impressive installations. The staiths are in fact jetties or piers built up to a high level above the rivers. Loaded wagons are propelled on to them and the contents are then quickly discharged through chutes down to the waiting colliers below.

   • 1995, James E. Vance, The North American Railroad: Its Origin, Evolution, and Geography, Johns Hopkins University Press:

     […] gravity had earlier been harnessed to provide part of the pull for trains of coal wagons heading for staiths for loading on schooners […]

Synonyms

• stathe

Derived terms

• staithman

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• “stathe”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “staith”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “staith”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Hiatts, hattis, that is