What does stapler mean?
A stapler is a handheld or powered tool that drives small metal staples through paper or other material, most often to bind sheets together. In ordinary office use, it is usually a compact desktop device; larger versions fasten packaging, carpets, or industrial materials, while surgical staplers close incisions or tissue with rows of staples. The word can also function as a verb, as in “she staplered the forms together,” meaning that she fastened them with a stapler. Stapler is conventional and neutral in British and American English, although “stapling gun” may distinguish a larger, heavy-duty tool from an ordinary office stapler. Its name comes from the fastener it places: a staple. The word staple traces to Old English stapp, meaning “pillar” or “prop,” and ultimately connects with an Indo-European root associated with standing or being firm. Earlier hand-operated stapling tools preceded the compact desktop models that became familiar fixtures in offices and schools. Today, “stapler” usually denotes an office tool, but context may instead direct attention to medicine, manufacturing, or packaging.
A device that fastens paper or other material by driving metal staples through it; by extension, a surgical instrument that closes wounds or tissue with staples.
"The office stapler is on the second shelf."
The office and domestic senses are neutral. In medicine, the term refers specifically to a surgical stapling device.
To fasten or bind material by driving staples into it with a stapler.
"She staplered the signed forms together."
This transitive use is less common than the verb “staple” and is most natural in practical or informal contexts.
The standard plural adds -s; “staplers” may refer to several office tools, tools of different types, or stapling devices collectively.
"The reception desk keeps several staplers in its drawers."
The word “staple” originally referred to a post or pillar—a fitting ancestor for a tool built around a piece of bent metal.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does stapler come from?
Stapler was formed in the early 19th century from staple and the agentive suffix -er. Staple derives from Old English stapp, meaning “pillar” or “prop,” from a Germanic and ultimately Indo-European root associated with standing or being firm. The related forms step and stave preserve the same broader root through different Germanic developments.
Related word forms
How stapler is actually used
As a noun, “stapler” is neutral and used in both formal and informal contexts. The surgical sense is technical, while the verb use is relatively uncommon compared with the more usual verb “staple.”
Easily confused with stapler
A staple is the U-shaped fastener itself, whereas a stapler is the tool that drives staples into material.