Link Centre Dictionary

staff

UK/stɑːf/ US/stɑːf/ common
noun (6) verb (2)

noun

1.

personnel who assist their superior in carrying out an assigned task

  • “the hospital has an excellent nursing staff”
  • “the general relied on his staff to make routine decisions”
2.

the body of teachers and administrators at a school

  • “the dean addressed the letter to the entire staff of the university”
Synonyms
3.

a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose

  • “he walked with the help of a wooden staff”
4.

building material consisting of plaster and hair; used to cover external surfaces of temporary structure (as at an exposition) or for decoration

5.

a rod carried as a symbol

6.

(music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written

Synonyms

verb

1.

provide with staff

  • “This position is not always staffed”
2.

serve on the staff of

  • “The two men staff the reception desk”

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • Aesculapian staff
  • air staff
  • almucantar staff
  • backroom staff
  • bass staff
  • cantoral staff
  • centurion's staff
  • chief of staff

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.