n. One of a number of narrow strips of wood, or narrow iron plates, placed edge to edge to form the sides, covering, or lining of a vessel or structure; esp., one of the strips which form the sides of a cask, a pail, etc.n. One of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel; one of the bars or rounds of a rack, a ladder, etc.n. A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.n. The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or printed; the staff{7}.v. To break in a stave or the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst; -- often with inv. To push, as with a staff; -- with off.v. To delay by force or craft; to drive away; -- usually with off.v. To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.v. To furnish with staves or rundles.v. To render impervious or solid by driving with a calking iron.verb-intransitive. To burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash into fragments.