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more about distaff
distaff |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Distaff \Dis"taff\, n.; pl {Distaffs}, rarely {Distaves}. [OE. distaf, dysestafe AS distaef; cf LG diesse the bunch of flax on a distaff, and E. dizen. See {Staff}.] 1. The staff for holding a bunch of flax, tow, or wool, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand. I will the distaff hold come thou and spin. --Fairfax. 2. Used as a symbol of the holder of a distaff; hence a woman; women, collectively. His crown usurped, a distaff on the throne. --Dryden. Some say the crozier, some say the distaff was too busy. --Howell. Note: The plural is regular, but Distaves occurs in Beaumont & Fletcher. {Descent by distaff}, descent on the mother's side {Distaff Day}, or {Distaff's Day}, the morrow of the Epiphany, that is January 7, because working at the distaff was then resumed, after the Christmas festival; -- called also {Rock Day}, a distaff being called a rock. --Shipley. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: distaff adj : characteristic of or peculiar to a woman; "female sensitiveness"; "female suffrage" [syn: {female}] n 1: the sphere of work by women 2: the staff on which wool or flax is wound before spinning From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Distaff (Heb. pelek, a "circle"), the instrument used for twisting threads by a whirl (Prov. 31:19).
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