stave

1. (transitive) To fit or furnish with staves or rundles.Examples: "vpon paine of death to bring it out and to ſtaue it"transitive

2. (transitive, usually with 'in') To break in the staves of; to break a hole in; to burst.Examples: "to stave in a cask"; "A great Sea constant runs here upon the Rocks, and before they got to Land their Boat was stav’d in Pieces […]"; "And therefore three cheers for Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave my soul, Jove himself cannot."transitiveusually

3. (transitive, with 'off') To push, or keep off, as with a staff.Examples: "The condition of a servant staves him off to a distance."transitive

4. (transitive, usually with 'off') To delay by force or craft; to drive away.Examples: "We ate grass in an attempt to stave off our hunger."; "Congress had authorized seeds to be granted to the farmers there to stave hunger, but President Cleveland vetoed the bill."transitiveusually

5. (intransitive, rare or archaic) To burst in pieces by striking against something.Examples: "But Donald would not hear of that proposal at all, assuring the Prince that it was impossible for them to return to the land again, because the squall was against them, and that if they should steer for the rock the boat would undoubtedly stave to pieces and all of them behoved to be drowned, for there was no [fol. 284.] possibility of saving any one life amongst them upon such a dangerous rock, where the sea was dashing with the utmost violence."archaicintransitiverare

6. (intransitive, dated or dialect) To walk or move rapidly.Examples: "He turned and blundered out of the house, stumbling over a chair and trying a wrong door on the way, and went staving down the street as if afraid to look behind him."dateddialectalintransitive