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Staple vs Rectangle - What's the difference?

staple | rectangle |

As nouns the difference between staple and rectangle

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 or staple can be a wire fastener used to secure stacks of paper by penetrating all the sheets and curling around while rectangle is (geometry) a quadrilateral having opposing sides parallel and four right angles.

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.

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

    * ----

    rectangle

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (geometry) A quadrilateral having opposing sides parallel and four right angles.
  • Synonyms

    * (quadrilateral) oblong (not in technical use)

    Hyponyms

    * (quadrilateral) square