staff

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.

   “And thus ſhall ye eate it [the lamb]: with your loines girded, your ſhooes on your feet, and your ſtaffe in your hand: and ye ſhall eate it in haſte: it is the Lords Paſſeouer.”

   “The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
3. (countable, uncountable)The employees of a business.

   “The company employed 10 new members of staff this month.”

   “The company has taken on 1600 more highly-paid staff.”

   “No department of the Southern Railway escaped some share of the work involved, and the outdoor traffic and locomotive staffs in particular were engaged literally night and day, snatching a few hours' sleep as opportunity offered, until the task was completed.”

   “Most staff do not have the skills to cope with such challenging patients, who too often receive "impersonal" care and suffer from boredom, the first National Audit of Dementia found. It says hospitals should introduce "dementia champions".”

   “It turns out that, in journalistic terms, and especially at the FT, where many staff see out their entire careers, seven years is nothing.”

4. (uncountable)A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.ᵂ
5. (countable, uncountable)A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.

   “a constable's staff”

   “Me thought this ſtaffe mine Office-badge in Court / Was broke in twaine:”

   “All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them.”

6. (countable, uncountable)A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
7. (archaic, countable, uncountable)The rung of a ladder.

   “I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.”

8. (countable, uncountable)A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.

   “Mr. Cowley had found out, that no kind of Staff is proper for an Heroick Poem; as being all too lirical:”

9. (countable, uncountable)An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
10. (countable, uncountable)The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
11. (countable, uncountable)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.

    “At the head of that division which had Westminster Bridge for its approach to the scene of action, Lord George Gordon took his post; with Gashford at his right hand, and sundry ruffians, of most unpromising appearance, forming a kind of staff about him.”

12. (archaic, countable, uncountable)A form of token once used, in combination with a ticket, for safe train movements between two points on a single line.

    “The train-staff and ticket system was used widely at one time, until superseded by electrical token systems, the first of which, the tablet system, appeared in 1878, […].”

    “The first up train was the morning semi-fast ex Buncrana, which sped through with No. 8 at its head, adroitly exchanging staffs at about 15 m.p.h. […] The next train through Tooban was our opposite number, and we duly received the vital staff.”

    “The unusual rolling stock, the fare collection methods, and the exchange of train staffs make it quite clear that here is something out of the ordinary run of suburban electric lines.”

13. (alt-of, misspelling)Misspelling of staph.

verb

1. (transitive)To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.

   “Interlaken East station is jointly owned with the standard gauge Bern-Lötschberg-Simplon Railway from Bern and Thun and the Swiss Federal Railways metre-gauge Brünig line from Lucerne, but is managed and staffed by the Bernese Oberland group.”