Search the Dictionary

pl. of Staff. "Banners, scarves and staves." R. Browning. Also (stavz),

A kind of larkspur (Delphinium Staphysagria), and its seeds, which are violently purgative and emetic. They are used as a parasiticide, and in the East for poisoning fish.

A brace used to join two or more staves.

round vessel or cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends or heads.

tess, accommodate us with a bedstaff. B. Jonson. Say there is no virtue in cudgels and bedstaves. Brome.

A small wooden vessel made of staves and hoops, like a tub. [Prov. Eng.]

or lines, which are to be taken together; thus, boll, bowl; or, in music, used to connect staves.

short rope with flat hooks at each end, for hoisting casks or barrels by the ends of the staves.

A charge or bearing supposed to represent the precious stone. It has eight scepters or staves radiating from a common center. Called also escarbuncle.

A barrel-shaped vessel made of staves headings, and hoops, usually fitted together so as to hold liquids. It may be larger or smaller than a barrel.

The edge or rim of a cask, etc., formed by the projecting ends of the staves; the chamfered end of a stave.

small furnace or iron cage to hold fire for charring the inside of a cask, and making the staves flexible. Knight.

e of a religious order, so called because its members bore the sign of the cross on their staves and habits; -- called also crossed friar and crouched friar.

Pertaining to, or derived from, the larkspur; specifically, relating to the stavesacre (Delphinium staphisagria).

A poisonous alkaloid extracted from the stavesacre (Delphinium staphisagria), as a colorless amorphous powder.

eptacle, as a stick or post from a hole, water from a cask or well, etc. The drew out the staves of the ark. 2 Chron. v. 9. Draw thee waters for the siege. Nahum iii. 14. I opened the tumor by the point of a lancet without drawing one drop of blood. Wiseman.

r's flag, the cat-tail (Typha latifolia), the long leaves of which are placed between the staves of barrels to make the latter water-tight. -- Corn flag. See under 2d Corn. -- Flag broom, a coarse of broom, originally made of flags or rushes. -- Flag root, the root of the sweet flag. -- Sweet flag. See Calamus, n.,…

A cleaving tool with handle at right angles to the blade, for splitting cask staves and shingles from the block; a frower.

e morning. -- Gathering hoop, a hoop used by coopers to draw together the ends of barrel staves, to allow the hoops to be slipped over them. -- Gathering peat. (a) A piece of peat used as a gathering coal, to preserve a fire. (b) In Scotland, a fiery peat which was sent round by the Borderers as an alarm signal, as t…

f wood or metal bent in a circular form, and united at the ends, for holding together the staves of casks, tubs, etc.