staple

A small bent piece of metal that holds sheets of paper or other materials together.

• Remove the staple from the paper.
• One staple held all the sheets together.
• The staples left small holes in the documents.

Common phrases: remove a staple, metal staple, staple remover

A basic food or other supply that people need and use regularly.

• Rice is a staple in many homes.
• Flour and beans are useful kitchen staples.
• Which staple provides most of their daily energy?

How to use it: a staple of something (Bread is a staple of their diet.)

Similar words: basic necessity, essential

Common phrases: dietary staple, household staple, staple of something

Something that appears often and is a familiar part of something larger.

• That joke is a staple of his shows.
• Ghost stories became a staple of the magazine.
• These characters remain staples of children’s television.

How to use it: a staple of something (Car chases are a staple of action films.)

Similar words: regular feature, fixture

Common phrases: staple of comedy, television staple, staple of something

A short natural or artificial fibre that can be twisted with others to make thread.

• This cotton has a short staple.
• The mill buys wool with a longer staple.
• Staple length affects the strength of the yarn.

Similar words: fibre

Common phrases: short staple, long staple, cotton staple

To join paper or other materials using small bent pieces of metal.

• Please staple these pages together.
• He stapled a notice to the wooden board.
• Have you stapled the receipts to the form?

How to use it: staple something together (Staple the pages together before handing them in.); staple something to something (She stapled the label to the bag.)

Common phrases: staple something together, staple the pages, staple something to something

To sort cotton, wool, or similar material by the length or quality of its fibres.

• Workers staple the cotton by fibre length.
• The wool was stapled before sale.
• They stapled each batch according to quality.

Similar words: sort, grade

Common phrases: staple the cotton, staple the wool

Connected with a town or market where particular goods were officially bought and sold.

• The merchants gathered in a staple town.
• Wool passed through the staple port.
• The king granted privileges to the staple market.

Common phrases: staple town, staple port, staple market

Firmly established in trade or regularly sold in a market.

• The port depended on its staple trade.
• Wool became a staple commodity in the region.
• Merchants dealt mainly in staple goods.

Similar words: established

Common phrases: staple trade, staple goods, staple commodity