staff UK /stɑːf/US [stæf]noun 12verb 1forms 4phrases 4 noun12 •the people who work for a company or for a place such as a school or a hospitalThe company employed 10 new members of staff this month.The company has taken on 1600 more highly-paid staff. •An establishment of officers in various departments attached to an army, to a section of an army, or to the commander of an army. The general's staff consists of those officers about his person who are employed in carrying his commands into execution. •A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.And thus shall ye eate it [the lamb]: with your loines girded, your shooes on your feet, and your staffe in your hand: and ye shall eate it in haste: it is the Lords Passeouer. — 1611 •A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.Me thought this staffe mine Office-badge in Court / Was broke in twaine: — 1591 •A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed. •A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave. •A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.Mr. Cowley had found out, that no kind of Staff is proper for an Heroick Poem; as being all too lirical: — 1697 •A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering. •An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch. •The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder. •(no longer used) A form of token once used, in combination with a ticket, for safe train movements between two points on a single line.The train-staff and ticket system was used widely at one time, until superseded by electrical token systems, the first of which, the tablet system, appeared in 1878, […]. — 1946 •(no longer used) The rung of a ladder.I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves. — 1739 verb1 •To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members. formsstaffed · staffing · staffs · staves Phrases with staff set up one's staffTo take up one's residence; to start to live in a certain place staff of lifeBread or some other staple foodstuff. staff outTo fill all of the positions in an institution with workers. staff upTo hire new staff; to fill vacancies in a workforce.