- a short piece of wire bent so as to bind together papers, sections of a book, or the like, by driving the ends through the sheets and clinching them on the other side.
- a similar, often U-shaped piece of wire or metal with pointed ends for driving into a surface to hold a hasp, hook, pin, bolt, wire, or the like.
- to secure or fasten by a staple or staples: to staple three sheets together.
- a principal raw material or commodity grown or manufactured in a locality.
- a principal commodity in a mercantile field; goods in steady demand or of known or recognized quality.
- a basic or necessary item of food: She bought flour, sugar, salt, and other staples.
- a basic or principal item, thing, feature, element, or part: Cowboy dramas are a staple on television.
- the fiber of wool, cotton, flax, rayon, etc., considered with reference to length and fineness.
- a standard length of textile fibers, representing the average of such fibers taken collectively, as short-staple or long-staple cotton.
- a town or place appointed by royal authority as the seat of a body of merchants having the exclusive right of purchase of certain classes of goods for export.
- chief or prominent among the products exported or produced by a country or district; chiefly or largely dealt in or consumed.
- basic, chief, or principal: staple industries.
- principally used: staple subjects of conversation.
- to sort or classify according to the staple or fiber, as wool.
- a short length of thin wire bent into a square U-shape, used to fasten papers, cloth, etc
- a short length of stiff wire formed into a U-shape with pointed ends, used for holding a hasp to a post, securing electric cables, etc
- to secure (papers, wire, etc) with a staple or staples
- of prime importance; principal
- (of a commodity) forming a predominant element in the product, consumption, or trade of a nation, region, etc
- a staple commodity
- a main constituent; integral part
- a principal raw material produced or grown in a region
- the fibre of wool, cotton, etc, graded as to length and fineness
- (in medieval Europe) a town appointed to be the exclusive market for one or more major exports of the land
- to arrange or sort (wool, cotton, etc) according to length and fineness