staple
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: staples
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: staples
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: stapling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: stapled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: stapled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
historical
uncountable
examples: The customs of Alexandria were very great, it having been the staple of the Indian trade.
For the increase of trade and the encouragement of the worthy burgesses of Woodstock, her majesty was minded to erect the town into a staple for wool.
Calais was one of the ‘principal treasures’ of the crown, of both strategic and economic importance. It was home to the staple, the crown-controlled marketplace for England's lucrative textile trade, whose substantial customs and tax revenues flooded into Henry's coffers.
gloss: Place of supply; source.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
examples: Whitehall naturally became the chief staple of news. Whenever there was a rumour that anything important had happened or was about to happen, people hastened thither to obtain intelligence from the fountain head.
gloss: The principal commodity produced in a town or region.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The old staple of coal is a declining traffic; and what remains tends to be hauled a shorter distance, as new power stations are sited closer to coalfields.
gloss: A basic or essential supply.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.
gloss: A recurring topic, character, or item.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Lurid stories are a staple of tabloid journalism.
In most countries, rubbish makes headlines only when it is not collected, and stinking sacks lie heaped on the streets. In Britain bins are a front-page staple.
MTV quickly became a staple of pop culture after its launch, and was tied to countless historic moments in music, including the world premiere of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video and the 16-hour broadcast of the Live Aid concerts in 1985.
gloss: Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Tow is flax with short staple.
gloss: Unmanufactured material; raw material.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To sort according to its staple.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to staple cotton
gloss: Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: a staple town
gloss: Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: a staple trade
To ruin with worse ware our staple trade
gloss: Fit to be sold; marketable.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: What needy writer would not solicit to work under such masters, who will pay us beforehand, take off as much of our ware as we please, at our own rates, and trouble not themselves to examine, either before or after they have bought it, whether it be staple, or not.
gloss: Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: wool, the great staple commodity of England
The pastoral industry, which had weathered the severe depression of the early forties by recourse to boiling down the sheep for their tallow, and was now firmly re-established as the staple industry of the colony, was threatened once more with eclipse.
Derived words: nonstaple
staple character
Translations: