staff (n.)

staff (v.)

And how should I know your true love

From many another one?

Oh, by his cockle hat and staff,

And by his sandal shoone.

Thomas Percy (1728-1811): The Friar of Orders Gray.

Here is bread, which strengthens man's heart, and therefore called the staff of life.

Mathew Henry (1662-1714): Commentaries. Psalm civ.

Bread is the staff of life.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Tale of a Tub. Preface.

The very staff of my age, my very prop.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merchant of Venice. Act ii. Sc. 2.

The ease of my burdens, the staff of my life.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part i. Book iii. Chap. ix.

Thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed.

Old Testament: Isaiah xxxvi. 6.

The stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.

Old Testament: Isaiah iii. 1.

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Old Testament: Psalm xxiii. 4.