staff (n.)

  1. personnel who assist their superior in carrying out an assigned task; the hospital has an excellent nursing staff; the general relied on his staff to make routine decisions'

  2. a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose; he walked with the help of a wooden staff'

  3. the body of teachers and administrators at a school; the dean addressed the letter to the entire staff of the university

    [ Syn: faculty ]

  4. building material consisting of plaster and hair; used to cover external surfaces of temporary structure (as at an exposition) or for decoration

  5. a rod carried as a symbol

  6. (music) the system of five horizontal lines on which the musical notes are written

    [ Syn: stave ]

    staff (v.)

  1. provide with staff; This position is not always staffed'

  2. serve on the staff of; The two men staff the reception desk'

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.