Noun

(label) A long, straight stick, especially one used to assist in walking.

*{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny

, chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff .}}

A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written.

(label) The employees of a business.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 16, author=Denis Campbell, work=Guardian

, title= Hospital staff 'lack skills to cope with dementia patients' , passage=Most staff do not have the skills to cope with such challenging patients, who too often receive "impersonal" care and suffer from boredom, the first National Audit of Dementia found. It says hospitals should introduce "dementia champions".}}

(label) A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.

A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

Methought this staff , mine office badge in court, / Was broke in twain.

*Sir (c.1564-1627)

All his officers brake their staves'; but at their return new ' staves were delivered unto them.

A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.

(label) The rung of a ladder.

* Dr. J. Campbell (E. Brown's Travels)

I ascend at one [ladder] of six hundred and thirty-nine staves .

A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

Cowley found out that no kind of staff is proper for an heroic poem, as being all too lyrical.

(label) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.

(label) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.

(label) 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.

Noun

(en noun)

A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.

A goal or objective.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.

A kind of small shield or buckler, used as a defensive weapon in war.

* 1598 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV , Part I, Act II, Scene IV, line 200,

These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target , thus.

(obsolete) A shield resembling the Roman scutum. In modern usage, a smaller variety of shield is usually implied by this term.

* 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 22,

The target or buckler was carried by the heavy armed foot, it answered to the scutum of the Romans; its form was sometimes that of a rectangular parallelogram, but more commonly had its bottom rounded off; it was generally convex, being curved in its breadth.

(sports) The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark.

(surveying) The sliding crosspiece, or vane, on a leveling staff.

(rail transport) A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.

(cricket) the number of runs that the side batting last needs to score in the final innings in order to win

(linguistics) The tenor of a metaphor.

(translation studies) The translated version of a document, or the language into which translation occurs.

A person (or group of people) that a person or organization is trying to employ or to have as a customer, audience etc.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC

, title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.}}