staff

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The group of people who work for a company, school, or organization.

   The hospital has an excellent nursing staff.

2. 2
   noun

   The teachers and other workers at a school or college.

   The whole staff attended the meeting.

3. 3
   noun

   A long, thick stick used as a support when walking or as a weapon.

   The old shepherd leaned on his wooden staff.

4. 4
   verb

   To provide a place with workers.

   The clinic is staffed by trained nurses.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Staff comes from Old English staff, meaning a walking stick. Its old plural was staves, and a form derived from that plural became the singular word stave for a wooden strip or stick.

From Middle English staf, from Old English stæf (“letter of the alphabet”), from Proto-West Germanic *stab, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Danish stav, Swedish stav. Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced by or is even from German Stab.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary