staple

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   necessary or important, especially regarding food or commodities

   wheat is a staple crop

2. 2
   noun

   a natural fiber (raw cotton, wool, hemp, flax) that can be twisted to form yarn

   staple fibers vary widely in length

3. 3
   verb

   secure or fasten with a staple or staples

   staple the papers together

4. 4
   noun

   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.

   The customs of Alexandria were very great, it having been the staple of the Indian trade.

5. 5
   noun

   Place of supply; source.

   Whitehall naturally became the chief staple of news. Whenever there was a rumour that anything important had happened or was about to happen, people hastened thither to obtain intelligence from the fountain head.

6. 6
   noun

   The principal commodity produced in a town or region.

   The old staple of coal is a declining traffic; and what remains tends to be hauled a shorter distance, as new power stations are sited closer to coalfields.

7. 7
   noun

   A basic or essential supply.

   Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.

8. 8
   noun

   A recurring topic, character, or item.

   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.

Etymology

From Middle English stapel (“staple, pillar, post”), from Old English stapol (“post, pillar”), from Proto-West Germanic *stapul, from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz, from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“post, stem”). See also Old English steppan (“to step”) and Old French estaple (“post”). Consider also stapes (“stirrup”), from Latin. Doublet of étape and etymology 1.