stove

Multiple Entries:
  stove    stave  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stove1

▶noun

• 1 an apparatus for cooking or heating that operates by burning fuel or using electricity.

• 2 Brit. a hothouse for plants.

▶verb

• 1 heat (an object) in a stove so as to apply a desired coating.

• 2 Brit. force or raise (plants) in a hothouse.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘sweating-room’): from MDu. or Mid. Low Ger. stove; perh. rel. to stew1.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stove2

past and past participle of stave.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stave/steɪv/

▶noun

• 1 a vertical wooden post or plank in a building or other structure.

  ■ any of the lengths of wood fixed side by side to make a barrel, bucket, etc.

  ■ a strong wooden stick or iron pole used as a weapon.

• 2 (also staff) Music a set of five parallel lines on or between any of which a note is written to indicate its pitch.

• 3 a verse or stanza of a poem.

▶verb

• 1 (past and past part. staved or stove) (stave something in) break something by forcing it inwards or piercing it roughly with a hole.

• 2 (past and past part. staved) (stave something off) avert or delay something bad or dangerous.

– origin ME: back-form. from staves, var. pl. form of staff1.