A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1500-1512, 1600-1699
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Staf(f, Stave, v. Also: staif(f, staive. [Staf(f n. 2. Cf. e.m.E. stawe (1542) to fit with a staff or handle, stave (c1595) to break up (a cask). Also in the later dial.] tr. a. To thrust (something) in the manner or of the type of a staff, to make such a movement. Cf. Staffing vbl. n. b. To break up (casks) into staves; to destroy (goods) in this fashion. —a. c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 486.
Sum stalwardly steppis ben with a stout curage And a stif standard thing staiffis in mi neiff 1685 Wodrow Hist. IV (1830) 250.
The major … staving a cocked pistol in his face … cried … he was a rebel —b. 1672 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. III 552.
The Lord Commissioner … being informed that there is a ship … in the river of Cluyd loadned with Irish meall … give order … to cause staive and destroy the said meall by fyre or throwing the same into the river 16.. Admir. Ct. Form 64.
Queritur: Shall any safe wynes contribute with your leck wynes. Resp. If they be not staffed. Hoc est. The girths cutted and the punshion dung in peices and the wyne let out that ther remain nothing for pype stawes. Everie merchand beares the hazard off his own leckage but if they be staved and casten in ane stress ther will be ane proportionable contribution
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"Staf v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 16 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/staff_v>
