staff

Meaning

Noun

1. A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
2. A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
3. The employees of a business.
4. 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.
6. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
7. The rung of a ladder.
8. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
9. An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
10. The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
11. 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.
12. A form of token once used, in combination with a ticket, for safe train movements between two points on a single line.

Verb

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

Concepts

staff

stick

personnel

rod

cane

pole

walking stick

stave

club

cudgel

baton

shaft

crew

bar

wand

crutch

man

spar

stake

mace

headquarters

team

work force

handle

employees

truncheon

crook

faculty

support

walking-stick

membership

lathi

human resources

officer

staff member

bat

bludgeon

scepter

post

employee

fishing rod

leg

composition

sceptre

manpower

staff officer

workers

workforce

strut

worker

crozier

board

flagstaff

ferule

perch

verge

spear

bank clerk

reed

birch

sprig

switch

twig

Fund staff

leaders

management

clerk

member

inside the department

executive

official

score

boy scout staff

office worker

members of group

members of staff

staff members

bloc

clique

organization

alpenstock

billy

blackjack

shillalah

shillelagh

people

army afficer

employ

hire

labor

crutched/walking stick

college

collegium

cast

measure of length

rung

regular

warder

yard

complement

cadre

labour force

staff organization

ax

axe

bacteria

bandy

drub

ingot

tally

balance shaft

brace strut

bracing

buckstay

column

pedestal

pier

pillar

post column

prop

prop mainstay

stabilizer

stanchion

stand leg

strut rod

support leg

support pillar

support post

support stand

supporter

supporting block

supporting column

supporting pillar

supporting strut

tie rod

billot

lever

hair mortar

hemp cut lime paste

hemp-fibred plaster

aid

arrow

tribe

set

fill

big stick

occupy

serve

service

soldier

valet

subserve

workshop

proletariat

walking cane

crosier

staffer

personne

circle

company

a personnel

advisors

secretaries

panel

letter

brigade

group

serviceman

Pronounced as (IPA)

/stɑːf/

Etymology

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, 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.