Staff_of_office Staff_of_office

Staff of office - Definition and Overview

Related Words: Advice, Advocacy, Aegis, Agency, Area, Assignment, Auspices, Authority, Authorization, Backup, Bailiwick, Benevolence

A staff of office is a staff and carrying it often denotes social rank or prestige.

Church sidesmen or dodsmen bear sticks or wands of office; bishops may wield their croziers or crooks; monarchs often flaunt sceptres. A gold- or silver-topped cane can express social standing (or dandyism). Military officers carry a residual threat of physical punishment in their swagger sticks, and the conductors of orchestras have in their batons symbols of authority as well as tools of their trade.

Compare corporate bodies' use of maces and note Sigmund Freud's views on phallic symbolism.

Example Usage of office

westleyl: @ColinMackay You did that to annoy @Plip and myself right? Free is free though, might be good for David at the Kew office :-)
boshti: RT @labs24ur: bday present for @dworfd ... http://yfrog.com/08fjawj the office is packed with energy now!
VickyHCarr: Freezing my bits off in the office this morning. Only partly to do with lack of heating - partly frosty atmosphere. Fun fun fun.
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