staff

From Middle English staf, from Old English stæf, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Swedish stav.

Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced from German Stab.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: stäf, IPA^(key): /stɑːf/
• Rhymes: -ɑːf
• (North America, Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈstæf/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æf

staff (countable and uncountable, plural staffs or staves or staff)

A musical staff

1. (plural staffs or staves) A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
   • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:

     The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.

2. (music, plural staves) A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written.
3. (plural staff or staffs) The employees of a business.
   • 2011 December 16, Denis Campbell, “Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients'”, in Guardian:

     Most staff do not have the skills to cope with such challenging patients, who too often receive "impersonal" care and suffer from boredom, the first National Audit of Dementia found. It says hospitals should introduce "dementia champions".

   The company employed 10 new members of staff this month.

4. (uncountable) A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.^W
5. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.

   a constable's staff

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, / Was broke in twain.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Sir John Hayward

     All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them.

6. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
7. (archaic) The rung of a ladder.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Dr. J. Campbell (E. Brown's Travels)

     I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves.

8. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden

     Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical.

9. (engineering) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
10. (surgery) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
11. (military) An establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. The general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution.

• (piece of wood): See Thesaurus:stick
• (music): stave
• (employees): personnel

staff (third-person singular simple present staffs, present participle staffing, simple past and past participle staffed)

1. (transitive) To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.

staff

1. Misspelling of staph.

• taffs

staff m

1. staff (employees)

• IPA^(key): /staf/

19th century. Obscure, possibly from German staffieren or Old French estofer (modern French étoffer)

staff m (plural staffs)

1. staff, mixture of plaster and fibre.

   Le staff apparaît grâce au Français Mézier qui vers 1850 a l'idée de réaliser une première corniche préfabriquée armée d'une toile de jute. Dès lors l'emploi du staff se développe rapidement jusqu'à atteindre son apogée à la belle époque. (Wikipédia)

• staffer
• staffeur

20th century. From English staff.

staff m (plural staffs)

1. staff, employees of a business.

   Synonyms: équipe, personnel

   les membres du staff.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. governing body (army, corporation, administration, etc.)
   • 1959, H. Bazin, Fin asiles, p. 81:

     Il avait été prévu une centaine d'infirmiers et un staff comprenant le médecin-chef, deux assistants, six internes.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

• “staff” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Borrowed from English staff.

staff m (invariable)

1. staff (people)

staff

1. Alternative form of staf

staff m (uncountable)

1. staff (employees)
   • 2015 September 12, “Más que un club”, in El País‎:

     Albiol regatea la caseta de Ciudadanos y llega al área de la de Sociedad Civil Catalana, otra ONG no-nacionalista, sobre la que el periodista Jordi Borràs, por cierto, acaba de sacar articulazo vinculando a su staff con la extrema derecha, ese equipo.

     (please add an English translation of this quote)