Stā'ple1, n.
(stā/pl), n. [A-S. stapul, stapol, stapel, a step, a prop, post, table, from stepan, to step, go, raise; D. stapel, a pile, stocks, staple, Ger. stapel, a heap, staple, mart, stake, Sw. stapel, Dan. stabel.]
Sense 1. A settled mart or market; an emporium. [Obs.]
In England, formerly, the king's staple was established in certain ports or towns, and certain goods could not be exported, without being first brought to these ports, to be rated and charged with the duty payable to the king or public. The principal commodities on which customs were levied, were wool, skins, and leather; and these were originally the staple commodities. Hence, the expression staple commodities came in time to signify the principal commodities produced by a country for exportation or use. Thus, cotton is the staple commodity of South Carolina, Georgia, and other Southern States of America. Wheat is the staple of Pennsylvania and New York.
Sense 2. A city or town where merchants agree to carry certain commodities. [Obs.]
Sense 3. A principal commodity or production of a country or district.
Sense 4. Hence, the principal element; the chief ingredient; the most important item.
Whitehall naturally became the chief staple of news. Macaulay.
Sense 5. Unmanufactured material; raw material.
Sense 6. The thread or pile of wool, cotton, or flax; as, a coarse staple; a fine staple; a short staple; a long staple, and the like.
Sense 7. A loop of iron, or a bar or wire bent and formed with two points, to be driven into wood, to hold a hook, pin, or the like.
Sense 8. (Coal-mining.) A small underground pit sunk from the workings on an upper seam to those of a lower one, for the purpose of promoting ventilation. Tomlinson.
Sense 9. A district granted to an abbey. [Obs.] Camden.
Staple of land, the particular nature and quality of land.