Stave — Defs

01 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 …

1.
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.
2.
One of the cylindrical bars of a lantern wheel; one of the bars or rounds of a rack, a ladder, etc.
3.
A metrical portion; a stanza; a staff.
“Let us chant a passing stave In honor of that hero brave.” — Wordsworth.
4.
The five horizontal and parallel lines on and between which musical notes are written or printed; the staff{7}.(Mus.) [Obs.]

Phrases & compounds

Stave jointer — a machine for dressing the edges of staves.

02 v. t. To break in a stave or the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst; -- often with in; as, to stave a cask; to stave in a boat.

imp. & p. p. Staved; p. pr. & vb. n. Staving

1.
To break in a stave or the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst; -- often with in; as, to stave a cask; to stave in a boat.
2.
To push, as with a staff; -- with off.
“The condition of a servant staves him off to a distance.” — South.
3.
To delay by force or craft; to drive away; -- usually with off; as, to stave off the execution of a project.
“And answered with such craft as women use, Guilty or guiltless, to stave off a chance That breaks upon them perilously.” — Tennyson.
4.
To suffer, or cause, to be lost by breaking the cask.
“All the wine in the city has been staved.” — Sandys.
5.
To furnish with staves or rundles.
6.
To render impervious or solid by driving with a calking iron; as, to stave lead, or the joints of pipes into which lead has been run.

Phrases & compounds

To stave and tail — in bear baiting, (to stave) to interpose with the staff, doubtless to stop the bear; (to tail) to hold back the dog by the tail.

03 v. i. To burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash into fragments.

1.
To burst in pieces by striking against something; to dash into fragments.
“Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank.” — Longfellow.