staff

staff · noun

imported

Definitions

noun

  1. 1.

    (noun) All the people employed by an organization.

  2. 2.

    (noun) A long stick used as a support or weapon.

  3. 3.

    (noun, music) The set of five horizontal lines on which music is written (plural: staves).

  4. 4.

    (verb) To provide an organization with employees.

Forms

plural: staffs/staves

Related words

See also: employee, team, worker
Synonyms: employees, personnel, team, workforce

Etymology

From Old English stæf ("stick, rod, pole"), from Proto-Germanic stabaz ("staff, stick"), from Proto-Indo-European stebh- ("post, stem"). The meaning "body of employees" developed from the military sense of officers who assist a commander, visualized as supporting the leader like a staff supports a person.