the.com/stave

means A stave is the set of five horizontal lines (and four spaces) on which musical notes are written, or, as a verb, to stave something off is to hold it back or delay it.

from From Old English 'stæf' meaning staff or stick — the same root that gives us 'staff.' 'Stave' emerged as a back-formation, treating 'staves' (the old plural of staff) as if it were a singular word of its own. The musical sense comes from the staff of lines on a page resembling a row of wooden staves or rods. The verb 'stave off' comes from a more physical image — literally fending off blows or breaking in a cask's staves to keep something at bay.