[f. STAPLE sb.3 + -ED2.] Having a staple (of a certain kind). Chiefly in parasynthetic formations, as in long-, short-stapled; thin-stapled; also well-stapled.
a. Of wool, sheep; also of cotton, silk, etc.: see STAPLE sb.3 1.
1594. Greene, Friar Bacon, 1514. My flockes, Yeelding forth fleeces stapled with such woole, As Lempster cannot yeelde more finer stuffe.
1805. Luccock, Nat. Wool, 346. Of the fifteen millions of short stapled ones [sc. fleeces], which the kingdom produces, there are not five hundred thousand which even border upon perfection.
1851. Art Jrnl. Illustr. Catal., p. iv**. Coarser and shorter stapled cottons.
1865. Reader, 8 July, 47/1. He had himself seen, in Pekin, warehouses stored with fine tobacco, short-stapled silk, paper [etc.].
b. Of soil: see STAPLE sb.3 3.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 130. Taking away small stones and flints is detrimental to … thin stapled light lands, and to all lands of a binding nature.
1795. Vancouver, Agric. Essex, 27. A well stapled gravelly loam.
1844. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 17. The thin-stapled lands of this district.
