1
- a piece of bent metal or wire pushed through something or clipped over it as a fastening, in particular固定物体用的弯曲金属（或金属丝）, 尤指：
1.1
- a piece of thin wire with a long centre portion and two short end pieces which are driven by a stapler through sheets of paper to fasten them together订书钉; 肘钉。
1.2
- a small U-shaped metal bar with pointed ends for driving into wood to hold attachments such as electric wires, battens, or sheets of cloth in placeU形钉。
with obj. and adverbial of place
- attach or secure with a staple or staples用U形钉固定; 用订书钉（或肘钉）钉：
Merrill stapled a batch of papers together.
梅里尔用订书钉把一叠纸订在一起。
词源
Old English stapol, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch stapel 'pillar' (a sense reflected in English in early use).
1
- a main or important element of something, especially of a diet主要（或重要）成分; 主食：
bread, milk, and other staples
面包、牛奶和别的主食
Greek legend was the staple of classical tragedy.
希腊传说是古典悲剧的主要组成部分。
1.1
- a main item of trade or production主要商品; 主要产品：
rubber became the staple of the Malayan economy.
橡胶成了马来亚经济的主要产品。
2
- mass noun the fibre of cotton or wool considered with regard to its length and degree of fineness（棉花、羊毛的）纤维（就其长度和细度而言）。
3
- often with modifier historical a centre of trade, especially in a specified commodity〈史〉（特定商品的）贸易中心：
proposals were made for a wool staple at Pisa.
建议在比萨建立一个羊毛交易中心。
attrib.
1- main or important, especially in terms of consumption（尤指消费方面）主要的, 重要的：
the staple foods of the poor
穷人的主食
figurative 〈喻〉violence is the staple diet of the video generation.
暴力是接受视频这代人的主食。
1.1
- most important in terms of trade or production（贸易或生产方面）最重要的：
rice was the staple crop grown in most villages.
在大多数的村庄里稻子是最重要的农作物。
词源
Middle English (in sense 3)： from Old French estaple 'market', from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch stapel 'pillar, emporium'; related to STAPLE1.