English Explanatory Dictionary

staple

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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.
  2. Place of supply; source.
  3. The principal commodity produced in a town or region.
  4. A basic or essential supply.
  5. A recurring topic, character, or item.
  6. Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.
  7. Unmanufactured material; raw material.
verb
  1. To sort according to its staple.
adj
  1. Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.
  2. Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.
  3. Fit to be sold; marketable.
  4. Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.
noun
  1. Any of several types of fastener comprising a bent piece of wire.
  2. A wire fastener, made of thin wire, used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.
  3. A wire fastener, in any of various sizes, used to secure something else by penetrating and curling.
  4. A U-shaped wire fastener, made of thick wire, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.
  5. One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.
  6. A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.
  7. A small pit.
  8. A district granted to an abbey.
  9. A post; prop; support
verb
  1. To secure with a staple.
name
  1. A village and civil parish in Dover district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR2756).
  2. A habitational surname from Middle English.

Pronunciation

/ˈsteɪ.pəl/ en-us-staple.ogg

Word forms

staple staples stapling stapled

Etymology

From Middle English staple, from Anglo-Norman estaple, Old French estaple (“market, (trading) post”), from Late Latin stapula, from Frankish *stapul, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stapulaz (“post”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ- (“post, stem”). Compare staff. Doublet of étape and etymology 2.

Related words

Staple Hill

Derived words

nonstaple staple character bike staple pipe-staple staple gun stapleless staplelike staple puller staple punch staple remover misstaple restaple stapler unstaple

Translations

Afrikaans: krammetjie Bulgarian: телче Catalan: grapa Chinese Cantonese: 釘書釘 /钉书钉 Chinese Mandarin: 訂書釘 /订书钉 Chinese Mandarin: 訂書針 /订书针 Danish: hæfteklamme Dutch: nietje Dutch: niet Dutch: kram Esperanto: agrafo Finnish: nitomanasta Finnish: paperiniitti Finnish: sinkilä Finnish: hakanen French: agrafe Galician: grampa Galician: galga German: Heftklammer Greek: συνδετήρας Hungarian: tűzőkapocs Hungarian: fémkapocs Hungarian: kapocs Icelandic: hefti Icelandic: kengur Icelandic: vírhefti Irish: stápla Italian: graffetta Japanese: ステープル Khmer: គ្រាប់កិប Lithuanian: sąsagėlė Manx: lhoob yiarn Māori: tēpara Māori: makatiti Norwegian Nynorsk: stift Occitan: croquet Occitan: agrafa Polish: zszywka Polish: klamra Portuguese: grampo Romanian: capsă Russian: скре́пка Russian: скоба́ Upper Sorbian: spinka Spanish: grapa Spanish: corchete Spanish: presilla Spanish: grampa Swedish: häftklammer Swedish: klammer Thai: ลวดเย็บกระดาษ Turkish: tel zımba Vietnamese: ghim Welsh: stapl Welsh: staplen
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