Definition of "stave" []

• A narrow strip of wood forming part of the sides of a barrel, tub, or similar structure. (noun)
• A rung of a ladder or chair. (noun)
• A staff or cudgel. (noun)
• Music See staff1. (noun)
• A set of verses; a stanza. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Their poems were graven upon small staves or rods, one line upon each face of the rod; and the Old English word "stave," as applied to a stanza, is probably a relic of the practice, which, in the early ages, prevailed in the West."
• "They've got to get a proposal together with, like, sheet music and all, and with the music constructed in GarageBand by yours truly, who barely knows a stave from a semi-quaver, getting that together is ... a challenge, as they say."
• "If you're buying a stave from a dealer, you'll save on drying time (4-6 weeks if cutting your own)."