different between staff vs redcoat

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)

English

Alternative forms

• red coat

Etymology

Bahuvrihi compound of red +? coat

Pronunciation

Noun

redcoat (plural redcoats)

1. A British soldier, especially during the American Revolution.
   • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad:

     The street sounds to the soldiers’ tread, / And out we troop to see: / A single redcoat turns his head, / He turns and looks at me.

   • 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:

     He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;

     And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,

     When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,

     A red-coat troop came marching—

     Marching—marching—

     King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

2. A member of the entertainment staff at Butlin's holiday camps in the United Kingdom, who wear red blazers.

   • Mirror News 16 May 13. The series ran from 1980 until 1988, and won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Series in 1984. It was based on Perry’s experiences working as a Redcoat in Butlins.

3. (slang) A fox.
   • 1947, Pennsylvania Game News (volumes 18-19, page 30)

     Hurriedly he made his way around one end of the pond to the spot where he had first sighted the redcoat.

Usage notes

The soldier and entertainment staff uses are sometimes capitalised.

Synonyms

• (British soldier) lobsterback

Anagrams

• Art Deco, cordate