Distaff
Distaff , noun
[Old English distaf, dysestafe, Anglo-Saxon distaef; compare LG. diesse the bunch of flax on a distaff, and English 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.
2.
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.
The plural is regular, but Distaves occurs in Beaumont & Fletcher.
Collocations (2)
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