DISTAFF • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Distaff

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noun

Distaff n. (pl. distaffs, rarely distaves)

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."

Used as a symbol of the holder of a distaff; hence, a woman; women, collectively. "His crown usurped, a distaff on the throne." "Some say the crozier, some say the distaff was too busy." 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.

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Etymology of 'Distaff'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Distaff" Quotes from Famous Books

... to be withstood By feeble human flesh and blood. 'Twas he that brought upon his knees The hect'ring kil-cow Hercules; Transform'd his leaguer-lion's skin T' a petticoat, and made him spin; Seiz'd on his club, and made it dwindle T' a feeble distaff and a spindle. ...

— An Old Sailor's Yarns • Nathaniel Ames

... shone on the strings of maize and bunches of dried vegetables that hung from the roof and on the copper kettles and saucepans ranged along the wall. The wind raged against the shutters of the unglazed windows, and the maid-servants, distaff in hand, crowded closer to the blaze, listening to the songs of some wandering fiddler or to the stories of a ruddy-nosed Capuchin monk who was being regaled, by the steward's orders, on a supper of tripe and mulled wine. The ...

— The Valley of Decision • Edith Wharton

... In the corresponding period of Grecian and Roman history, we find Penelope and Lucretia at the loom, Nausicaa, a laundress, the daughter of the king of the Lestrigons, fetching water from the spring, Odysseus, a carpenter, a queen of Macedonia as a cook, and finally the distaff of Tanaquil.(348) In the highlands of Scotland, in 1797, there were a great many peasants all of whose clothing was home-made, with the exception of their caps; nothing coming from abroad except the tailor, his needles ...

— Principles Of Political Economy • William Roscher

... song, such as was of yore raised on the field of battle by the scalds of the yet heathen Saxons. Her long dishevelled gray hair flew back from her uncovered head; the inebriating delight of gratified vengeance contended in her eyes with the fire of insanity; and she brandished the distaff which she held in her hand, as if she had been one of the Fatal Sisters who spin and abridge the thread ...

— Journeys Through Bookland - Volume Four • Charles H. Sylvester

... Catheron Royals," she said, "and a fine baby no doubt, as babies go. I don't pretend to be a judge. He is very bald and very flabby, and very fat just at present. Whom does he resemble? Not you, Victor. O, no doubt the distaff side of the house. What do you call him, nurse? Not christened yet? But of course the heir of the house is always christened at Catheron Royals. Victor, no doubt you'll follow the habit of your ancestors, and ...

— A Terrible Secret • May Agnes Fleming

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