"staff of life" meaning in English

See staff of life in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈstɑːf ə(v)ˌlaɪf/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈstæf ə(v)ˌlaɪf/ [General-American], /ˈstɐːf ɘ(v)ˌlɑef/ [New-Zealand] Audio: En-us-staff of life.oga
Etymology: By extension from the Biblical phrase “break the staff of bread” (Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem)), staff (“long, straight rod”) in this context meaning something that acts as a support: see, for example, Leviticus 26:26 (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied”; and Ezekiel 4:16: “[…] Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care, and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: […]”. Compare Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”). Etymology templates: {{noncog|he|מַטֶּה לֶחֶם|tr=maté lékhem}} Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem), {{sup|1}} ¹, {{nb...}} […], {{nb...}} […], {{noncog|egy|ḫt n ꜥnḫ|lit=stick or wood of life|t=grain; food}} Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”) Head templates: {{head|en|noun|head=staff of life}} staff of life
  1. (idiomatic, often literary or poetic) Bread or some other staple foodstuff. Tags: idiomatic, literary, often, poetic Categories (topical): Breads Related terms: bread of life, daily bread
    Sense id: en-staff_of_life-en-noun-MvPwK0j~ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "he",
        "2": "מַטֶּה לֶחֶם",
        "tr": "maté lékhem"
      },
      "expansion": "Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem)",
      "name": "noncog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "egy",
        "2": "ḫt n ꜥnḫ",
        "lit": "stick or wood of life",
        "t": "grain; food"
      },
      "expansion": "Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”)",
      "name": "noncog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "By extension from the Biblical phrase “break the staff of bread” (Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem)), staff (“long, straight rod”) in this context meaning something that acts as a support: see, for example, Leviticus 26:26 (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied”; and Ezekiel 4:16: “[…] Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care, and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: […]”. Compare Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "staff of life"
      },
      "expansion": "staff of life",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Breads",
          "orig": "en:Breads",
          "parents": [
            "Foods",
            "Eating",
            "Food and drink",
            "Human behaviour",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38:",
          "text": "It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Rita Knipe, The Water of Life: A Jungian Journey Through Hawaiian Myth, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 38:",
          "text": "The round calabash is a perfect image for the feminine womb, within which the arduously pounded taro is contained and then offered as the very staff of life.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 February 18, Colin G. Calloway, New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, JHU Press, →ISBN, pages 51–52:",
          "text": "Corn was the staff of life for many Indian people before contact, and it became the staff of life for many European colonists. Corn was higher in nutrition than most other grain crops. John Lawson, who travelled in South Carolina and into the interior Indian country in 1701, was one of the many colonists who sang the praises of corn.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bread or some other staple foodstuff."
      ],
      "id": "en-staff_of_life-en-noun-MvPwK0j~",
      "links": [
        [
          "Bread",
          "bread#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "staple",
          "staple#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "foodstuff",
          "foodstuff"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often literary or poetic) Bread or some other staple foodstuff."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "bread of life"
        },
        {
          "word": "daily bread"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "literary",
        "often",
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈstɑːf ə(v)ˌlaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈstæf ə(v)ˌlaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈstɐːf ɘ(v)ˌlɑef/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-staff of life.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-us-staff_of_life.oga/En-us-staff_of_life.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-us-staff_of_life.oga"
    }
  ],
  "word": "staff of life"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "he",
        "2": "מַטֶּה לֶחֶם",
        "tr": "maté lékhem"
      },
      "expansion": "Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem)",
      "name": "noncog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "¹",
      "name": "sup"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "egy",
        "2": "ḫt n ꜥnḫ",
        "lit": "stick or wood of life",
        "t": "grain; food"
      },
      "expansion": "Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”)",
      "name": "noncog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "By extension from the Biblical phrase “break the staff of bread” (Hebrew מַטֶּה לֶחֶם (maté lékhem)), staff (“long, straight rod”) in this context meaning something that acts as a support: see, for example, Leviticus 26:26 (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied”; and Ezekiel 4:16: “[…] Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care, and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: […]”. Compare Egyptian ḫt n ꜥnḫ (“grain; food”, literally “stick or wood of life”).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "staff of life"
      },
      "expansion": "staff of life",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "bread of life"
    },
    {
      "word": "daily bread"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English literary terms",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English poetic terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Breads"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38:",
          "text": "It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1989, Rita Knipe, The Water of Life: A Jungian Journey Through Hawaiian Myth, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 38:",
          "text": "The round calabash is a perfect image for the feminine womb, within which the arduously pounded taro is contained and then offered as the very staff of life.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998 February 18, Colin G. Calloway, New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, JHU Press, →ISBN, pages 51–52:",
          "text": "Corn was the staff of life for many Indian people before contact, and it became the staff of life for many European colonists. Corn was higher in nutrition than most other grain crops. John Lawson, who travelled in South Carolina and into the interior Indian country in 1701, was one of the many colonists who sang the praises of corn.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bread or some other staple foodstuff."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Bread",
          "bread#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "staple",
          "staple#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "foodstuff",
          "foodstuff"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, often literary or poetic) Bread or some other staple foodstuff."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "literary",
        "often",
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈstɑːf ə(v)ˌlaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈstæf ə(v)ˌlaɪf/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈstɐːf ɘ(v)ˌlɑef/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-staff of life.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ec/En-us-staff_of_life.oga/En-us-staff_of_life.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/En-us-staff_of_life.oga"
    }
  ],
  "word": "staff of life"
}

Download raw JSONL data for staff of life meaning in English (4.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.