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Staple vs Mainly - What's the difference?

staple | mainly |

As a noun 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 or staple can be a wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around.

As a verb staple

is to sort according to its staple or staple can be to secure with a staple.

As an adjective staple

is relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.

As an adverb mainly is

(label) forcefully, vigorously.

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

    * ----

    mainly

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (label) Forcefully, vigorously.
  • * , III.i:
    • Mainly they all attonce vpon him laid, / And sore beset on euery side around.
  • (label) Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully.
  • *, II.31:
    • But in the end, mainly crying out, he fell to raling and wringing his master, upbraiding him that he was not a true Philosopher.
  • (label) To a great degree; very much.
  • Chiefly; for the most part.
  • *, chapter=12
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee.}}

    Anagrams

    * English focus adverbs