Definition of "staple" []

• A principal raw material or commodity grown or produced in a region. (noun)
• A major item of trade in steady demand. (noun)
• A basic dietary item, such as flour, rice, or corn. (noun)
• A basic or principal element or feature. (noun)
• The fiber of cotton, wool, or flax, graded as to length and fineness. (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.

• "The period of experiments in economic and anti-clerical legislation was also marked by other important new laws, such as the ordinance of the staple of 1354, providing that wool, leather, and other commodities were only to be sold at certain _staple_ towns, a measure soon to be modified by the law of 1362, which settled the staple at Calais; the ordinance of 1357 for the government of Ireland, to which later reference will be made; the statute making English the language of the law courts in 1362, and a drastic act against purveyance in 1365."
• "For those who have only ground spices, a coffee filter and a staple is all it takes to make a little spice bag to steep in the cider."
• "But now he was tied with a chain that defied his teeth, and he strove in vain, by lunging, to draw the staple from the timber into which it was driven."