É`tape" (?), n. [F. Cf. Staple a mart.]
1.
A public storehouse.
2.
Supplies issued to troops on the march; hence (Mil.),
the place where troops on the march halt over night; also, by extension, the distance marched during a day.
3.
In Russia, a prison or stockade for the confinement of prisoners in transit.
© Webster 1913