Staple vs Main - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between staple and main

is that staple is 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 while main is strength; power; force; violent effort.

As adjectives the difference between staple and main

is that staple is relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities while main is great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.

As a verb staple

is to sort according to its staple.

As an adverb main is

very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.

As a proper noun Main is

a river in southern Germany, flowing from Bavaria to the Rhine.

staple

English

Etymology 1

(The Staple) From (etyl) estaple, (etyl) . Compare staff.

Noun

(en noun)

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.

* Arbuthnot

The customs of Alexandria were very great, it having been the staple of the Indian trade.

* Sir Walter Scott

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.

* 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 73:

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.

(by extension) Place of supply; source.

* Macaulay

Whitehall naturally became the chief staple of news. Whenever there was a rumour that any thing important had happened or was about to happen, people hastened thither to obtain intelligence from the fountain head.

The principal commodity produced in a town or region.

* Trench

We should now say, Cotton is the great staple , that is, the established merchandize, of Manchester.

* 1929 , , , Chapter VIII, Section ii:

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.

A basic or essential supply.

Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.

A recurring topic or character.

* 2010 , The Economist , Jul-Aug 2010, p. 27:

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 .

Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.

Tow is flax with short staple .

Unmanufactured material; raw material.

Verb

(stapl)

To sort according to its staple.

to staple cotton

Adjective

(-)

Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.

a staple town

Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.

a staple trade

(Dryden)

Fit to be sold; marketable.

(Swift)

Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.

* Hallam

wool, the great staple commodity of England

Etymology 2

Probably from (etyl) , from (etyl).

Noun

(en noun)

A wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.

A wire fastener used to secure something else by penetrating and curling.

Can you believe they use staples to hold cars together these days?

A U-shaped metal fastener, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.

The rancher used staples to attach the barbed wire to the fence-posts.

One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.

Fortunately, there were staples in the quay wall, and she was able to climb out of the water.

(mining) A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.

A small pit.

A district granted to an abbey.

(Camden)

Verb

(stapl)

To secure with a staple.

Derived terms

* stapler

Anagrams

* ----

main

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).

Adjective

(-)

(label) Great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.

* (Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)

Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance.

* (John Tillotson) (1630-1694)

* , chapter=7

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}

*{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild

, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}

Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason or size or strength.

* (John Milton) (1608-1674)

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.

Full; undivided; sheer (of strength, force etc.).

* 1817 , (Walter Scott), , XII:

(label) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.

(label) Big; angry.

Derived terms

* main drag * main road

Adverb

(en adverb)

Very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.

* 1799 , Samuel Foote, The works of Samuel Foote :

* 1840 , Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leigh Hunt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The dramatic works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan :

Etymology 2

From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.

Noun

(en noun)

* Spenser

That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.

* Francis Bacon

* 1858 , Humphrey Prideaux, James Talboys Wheeler, An historical connection of the Old and New Testaments :

* Francis Bacon

* 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 90:

* 1624 , John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes (Meditation XVII):

* 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :

* Dryden

A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main.

(label) The mainsail.

Quotations

* (English Citations of "main")

Derived terms

{{der3, (large pipe or cable) gas main, mains (qualifier), water main , in the main , main brace , main drag , maincrop , mainframe , mainland , mainline, main line , mainmast , mainplane , mainsail , mainsheet , mainspring , mainstreet, main street , maintop , maintopmast}}

Etymology 3

; compare (manual).

Noun

(en noun)

A hand or match in a game of dice.

(Prior)

(Thackeray)

A stake played for at dice.

* Shakespeare, The First Park of King Henry IV

The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.

A match at cockfighting.

* Thackeray

A main-hamper, or fruit basket.

(Ainsworth)

Statistics

Anagrams

External links

* 1000 English basic words ----