stapler

A stapler is the tool that fastens papers together with small metal staples. Use the stapler, the stapler is empty, a heavy-duty stapler.

The staple is driven through the paper and its legs are bent over by the anvil underneath — turning the anvil gives the pinned setting, which bends them outward for temporary fastening, and almost nobody knows it is there. A staple gun is the construction version. Note staple, both the fastener and, quite separately, a basic food that a diet depends on: rice is a staple.