staff1

noun

• 1 [treated as singular or plural] all the people employed by a particular organization:a staff of 600 hospital staff were not to blame
• the teachers in a school or college: [as modifier]:a staff meeting

• 2 [treated as singular or plural] a group of officers assisting an officer in command of an army formation or administration headquarters: the Polish General and his staff [as modifier]:after the Second World War he took up a string of staff appointments
• (usually Staff)short for staff sergeant.

• 3a long stick used as a support when walking or climbing or as a weapon: a shepherd’s staff figurativehe adopted literature as the staff of his pilgrimage
• a rod or sceptre held as a sign of office or authority.
• short for flagstaff.
• Surveying a rod for measuring distances or heights.
• British a spindle in a watch.
• British a token in the form of a rod given to a train driver as authority to proceed over a single-track line.

• 4 Musicanother term for stave (sense 2 of the noun).

verb

• provide (an organization, business, etc.) with staff:legal advice centres are staffed by volunteer lawyers (as adjective staffed)all units are fully staffed