staple

A town containing merchants who have exclusive right, under royal authority, to purchase or produce certain goods for export; also, the body of such merchants seen as a group.

The customs of Alexandria were very great, it having been the staple of the Indian trade.

For the increase of trade and the encouragement of the worthy burgesses of Woodstock, her majesty was minded to erect the town into a staple for wool.

Place of supply; source.

Whitehall naturally became the chief staple of news. Whenever there was a rumour that anything important had happened or was about to happen, people hastened thither to obtain intelligence from the fountain head.

The principal commodity produced in a town or region.

The old staple of coal is a declining traffic; and what remains tends to be hauled a shorter distance, as new power stations are sited closer to coalfields.

A basic or essential supply.

Rice is a staple in the diet of many cultures.

A recurring topic, character, or item.

In most countries, rubbish makes headlines only when it is not collected, and stinking sacks lie heaped on the streets. In Britain bins are a front-page staple.

MTV quickly became a staple of pop culture after its launch, and was tied to countless historic moments in music, including the world premiere of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video and the 16-hour broadcast of the Live Aid concerts in 1985.

To sort according to its staple.

to staple cotton

Relating to, or being market of staple for, commodities.

a staple town

Established in commerce; occupying the markets; settled.

a staple trade

To ruin with worse ware our staple trade

Fit to be sold; marketable.

What needy writer would not solicit to work under such masters, who will pay us beforehand, take off as much of our ware as we please, at our own rates, and trouble not themselves to examine, either before or after they have bought it, whether it be staple, or not.

Regularly produced or manufactured in large quantities; belonging to wholesale traffic; principal; chief.

wool, the great staple commodity of England

The pastoral industry, which had weathered the severe depression of the early forties by recourse to boiling down the sheep for their tallow, and was now firmly re-established as the staple industry of the colony, was threatened once more with eclipse.