Staples vs Staple - What's the difference?
staples | staple |
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
* Sir Walter Scott
* 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 73:
(by extension) Place of supply; source.
* Macaulay
The principal commodity produced in a town or region.
* Trench
* 1929 , , , Chapter VIII, Section ii:
A basic or essential supply.
A recurring topic or character.
* 2010 , The Economist , Jul-Aug 2010, p. 27:
Short fiber, as of cotton, sheep’s wool, or the like, which can be spun into yarn or thread.
Unmanufactured material; raw material.
To sort according to its staple.
Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.
Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.
Fit to be sold; marketable.
Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.
* Hallam
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.
A U-shaped metal fastener, used to attach fence wire or other material to posts or structures.
One of a set of U-shaped metal rods hammered into a structure, such as a piling or wharf, which serve as a ladder.
(mining) A shaft, smaller and shorter than the principal one, joining different levels.
A small pit.
A district granted to an abbey.
To secure with a staple.
As nouns the difference between staples and staple
is that staples is plural of lang=en while 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.As verbs the difference between staples and staple
is that staples is third-person singular of staple while staple is to sort according to its 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)- The customs of Alexandria were very great, it having been the staple of the Indian trade.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- We should now say, Cotton is the great staple , that is, the established merchandize, of Manchester.
- 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.
- Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.
- 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 .
- Tow is flax with short staple .
Verb
(stapl)- to staple cotton
Adjective
(-)- a staple town
- a staple trade
- (Dryden)
- (Swift)
- wool, the great staple commodity of England
Etymology 2
Probably from (etyl) , from (etyl).Noun
(en noun)- Can you believe they use staples to hold cars together these days?
- The rancher used staples to attach the barbed wire to the fence-posts.
- Fortunately, there were staples in the quay wall, and she was able to climb out of the water.
- (Camden)
