staple: Meaning and Definition of

sta•ple

1. 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.
2. a similar, often-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.

1. to secure or fasten by a staple or staples: to staple three sheets together.

sta•ple

1. a principal raw material or commodity grown or manufactured in a locality.
2. a principal commodity in a mercantile field; goods in steady demand or of known or recognized quality.
3. a basic or necessary item of food: She bought flour, sugar, salt, and other staples.
4. a basic or principal item, thing, feature, element, or part: Cowboy dramas are a staple on television.
5. the fiber of wool, cotton, flax, rayon, etc., considered with reference to length and fineness.
6. a standard length of textile fibers, representing the average of such fibers taken collectively, as short-staple or long-staple cotton.
7. 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.

1. chief or prominent among the products exported or produced by a country or district; chiefly or largely dealt in or consumed.
2. basic, chief, or principal: staple industries.
3. principally used: staple subjects of conversation.

1. to sort or classify according to the staple or fiber, as wool.