different between staff vs cosh

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English staf, from Old English stæf, from Proto-Germanic *stabaz. Cognate with Dutch staf, German Stab, Swedish stav.

Sense of "group of military officers that assists a commander" and similar meanings, attested from 1702, is influenced from German Stab.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: stäf, IPA^(key): /st??f/
• Rhymes: -??f
• (North America, Northern England) IPA^(key): /?stæf/
• Rhymes: -æf

Noun

staff (countable and uncountable, plural staffs or staves or staff)

1. (plural staffs or staves) A long, straight, thick wooden rod or stick, especially one used to assist in walking.
2. (music, plural staves) A series of horizontal lines on which musical notes are written; a stave.
3. (plural staff or staffs) The employees of a business.
4. (uncountable) A mixture of plaster and fibre used as a temporary exterior wall covering.^W
5. A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office.
   • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI

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

6. A pole upon which a flag is supported and displayed.
7. (archaic) The rung of a ladder.
   • 1739, John Campbell, The Travels and Adventures of Edward Bevan, Esq.

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

8. A series of verses so disposed that, when it is concluded, the same order begins again; a stanza; a stave.
9. (engineering) An arbor, as of a wheel or a pinion of a watch.
10. (surgery) The grooved director for the gorget, or knife, used in cutting for stone in the bladder.
11. (military) 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.

Synonyms

• (piece of wood): See Thesaurus:stick
• (music): stave
• (employees): personnel

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? French: staff
• ? Italian: staff
• ? Japanese: ???? (sutaffu)
• ? Korean: ??? (seutaepeu)
• ? Spanish: staff

Translations

See also

Verb

staff (third-person singular simple present staffs, present participle staffing, simple past and past participle staffed)

1. (transitive) To supply (a business, volunteer organization, etc.) with employees or staff members.

Derived terms

• staffer
• staffing

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

staff

1. Misspelling of staph.

Anagrams

• taffs

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?s?taf/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /es?taf/

Noun

staff m (uncountable)

1. staff (employees)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /staf/

Etymology 1

19th century. Obscure, possibly from German staffieren or Old French estofer (modern French étoffer)

Noun

staff m (plural staffs)

1. staff, mixture of plaster and fibre.

Derived terms

• staffer
• staffeur

Etymology 2

20th century. From English staff.

Noun

staff m (plural staffs)

1. staff, employees of a business.

   Synonyms: équipe, personnel

2. governing body (army, corporation, administration, etc.)
   • 1959, H. Bazin, Fin asiles, p. 81:

References

• “staff” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English staff.

Noun

staff m (invariable)

1. staff (people)

Middle English

Noun

staff

1. Alternative form of staf

Spanish

Etymology

From English staff.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /es?taf/, [es?t?af]

Noun

staff m (uncountable)

1. staff (employees)

Translingual

Pronunciation

• English:
  • IPA^(key): /k??/, /k??se?t?/
  • Rhymes: -??

Symbol

cosh

1. (trigonometry) The symbol of the hyperbolic function hyperbolic cosine.

Usage notes

The symbol cosh is prescribed by the ISO 80000-2:2019 standard. The symbol ch is also in use, and is especially favoured in French- and Russian-language texts.

See also

• cos
• sinh
• tanh

English

Etymology 1

Probably from Romani košter (stick)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

cosh (plural coshes)

1. A weapon made of leather-covered metal similar to a blackjack.
2. A blunt instrument such as a bludgeon or truncheon.
3. (Britain, education, slang, dated) The cane.
   • 1959, Iona Opie, Peter Opie, The lore and language of schoolchildren (page 374)

     There is no need here to digress on the advantages or otherwise of using a 'cosh' in schools […]

   • 2019, John Loveday, The Boy from Rod Alley (page 115)

     Often, he walked around the room with the cosh in his hand, taking slashes at legs that happened to stray sideways […]

Derived terms

• liquid cosh
• under the cosh

Verb

cosh (third-person singular simple present coshes, present participle coshing, simple past and past participle coshed)

1. (transitive) To strike with a weapon of this kind.

See also

• bludgeon

Etymology 2

Adjective

cosh (comparative more cosh, superlative most cosh)

1. (Scotland) cosy; snug

Anagrams

• CHOs, COHs, Chos, OHCs, SOHC, Sohc