A staff of office is a staff, the carrying of which often denotes an official

Official

An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...

's position, a social rank or a degree of social prestige

Prestige (sociology)

Prestige is a word commonly used to describe reputation or esteem, though it has three somewhat related meanings that, to some degree, may be contradictory. Which meaning applies depends on the historical context and the person using the word....

.

Apart from the ecclesiastical and ceremonial usages mentioned below, there are less formal usages. A gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

- or silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

-topped cane can express social standing (or dandyism). Teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

s or prefect

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

s in schools traditionally carried less elaborate canes which marked their right (and potential threat) to administer caning

Caning

Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits with a single cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks or hand . Application of a cane to the knuckles or the shoulders has been much less common...

s, and military officers carry a residual threat of physical punishment in their swagger stick

Swagger stick

A swagger stick is a short stick or riding crop usually carried by a uniformed person as a symbol of authority. A swagger stick is shorter than a staff or cane, and is usually made from rattan.-History:...

s. Orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

l conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

s have in their baton

Baton (conducting)

A baton is a stick that is used by conductors primarily to exaggerate and enhance the manual and bodily movements associated with directing an ensemble of musicians. They are generally made of a light wood, fiberglass or carbon fiber which is tapered to a grip shaped like a pear, drop, cylinder...

s symbols of authority as well as tools of their trade.

Ecclesiastical use

Church sidesmen or dodsmen bear sticks or rods or wand

Wand

A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, stone, ivory, or metal. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar...

s of office; bishops may use a crozier or crook

Crook

- Places :* Crook, County Durham, England, United Kingdom* Crook, Cumbria, England, United Kingdom* Crook, Devon, England, United Kingdom* Crook Inn, Scotland, United Kingdom* Crook, Colorado, United States* Crook County, Oregon, United States...

.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

 and some of the Oriental Orthodox Churches an ecclesiastical walking stick is used by bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s, archimandrite

Archimandrite

The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...

s and hegumen

Hegumen

Hegumen, hegumenos, igumen, or ihumen is the title for the head of a monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the one of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called hegumenia or ihumenia . The term means "the one who is in charge", "the leader" in...

s (abbots) when walking outside. It is usually made of dark wood and is straight, rather than having a curved handle. The walking stick used by bishops and archimandrites is normally adorned with a silver grip at the top and a metal ferrule

Ferrule

A ferrule is a name for types of metal objects, generally used for fastening, joining, or reinforcement...

 at the tip. The walking stick used by a hegumen or hegumenia (abbess

Abbess

An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....

) is normally of plain wood, unadorned.

The walking stick is not used in any liturgical

Liturgy

Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...

 context, except to the extent that when a bishop is formally received at the beginning of the service, he will carry it as he walks into the church. An altar server

Altar server

An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian religious service. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell and so on....

 will usually take it from him when he enters the narthex

Narthex

The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...

 and return it to him when he leaves at the end of the service.

Ceremonial use

Monarchs often have a sceptre

Sceptre

A sceptre is a symbolic ornamental rod or wand borne in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia.-Antiquity:...

 signifying their office. There are also offices which take their titles from their staff, such as Black Rod

Black Rod

The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, generally shortened to just Black Rod, is an official in the parliaments of several Commonwealth countries. The position originates in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 and the Tipstaff

Tipstaff

The Tipstaff is an officer of a court or, in some countries, a law clerk to a judge. The duties of the position vary from country to country.-History:...

. Some corporate bodies use mace

Ceremonial mace

The ceremonial mace is a highly ornamented staff of metal or wood, carried before a sovereign or other high official in civic ceremonies by a mace-bearer, intended to represent the official's authority. The mace, as used today, derives from the original mace used as a weapon...

s.