distaff
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdɪstɑːf/
ipa: /ˈdɪstæf/
Forms: form: distaffs
form: distaves
form: distaffe
Etymology: From Middle English distaf (“distaff”), from Old English distæf (“distaff”), from *dis- (“bunch of flax”) (cognate with Middle Low German dise (“bunch of flax on a distaff”)) + stæf (“staff”) (from Proto-Germanic *stabaz (“staff, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *stebʰ-). Senses 3 and 5 (“anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only”; “a woman, or women considered as a group”) refer to the fact that spinning was traditionally done by women.
Senses: examples: text: Then hadſt thou had an excellent head of haire. […] Excellent, it hangs like flax on a diſtaffe: & I hope to ſee a huſwife take thee between her legs, & ſpin it off.
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 256:
text: I muſt change armes at home, and giue the diſtaffe
 Into my Husbands hands, […]
ref: c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
glosses: A device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (as indicated by the etymology of the word), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.
glosses: The part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun.
glosses: Anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only.
glosses: A race for female horses only.
examples: text: But O, passenger, if thou art desirous to know the cause of these fatal discomposures, of this inextricable war, truly I must deal plainly: I cannot resolve thee herein to any full satisfaction. Grievances there were, I must confess, and some incongruities in my civil government, (wherein, some say, the crozier, some say, the distaff was too busy,) but I little thought, God knows, that those grievances required a redress this way.
ref: 1643, James Howell, “England’s Tears for the Present Wars, which, for the Nature of the Quarrel, the Quality of Strength, the Diversity of Battles, Skirmishes, Encounters, and Sieges, Happened in so Short a Compass of Time, Cannot be Paralleled by any Precedent Age”, in Walter Scott, editor, A Collection of Scarce and Valuable Tracts, on the Most Interesting and Entertaining Subjects: But Chiefly Such as Relate to the History and Constitution of These Kingdoms. Selected from an Infinite Number in Print and Manuscript, in the Royal, Cotton, Sion, and Other Public, as well as Private, Libraries; Particularly that of the Late Lord Somers, 2nd edition, volume V, London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell and W. Davies, Strand [et al.], published 1811, →OCLC, page 42:
text: [C]an I ſooth Tyranny?
 Seem pleas'd to ſee my Royal Maſter murther'd,
 His crown uſurp'd, a Diſtaff in the Throne [Anne, Queen of Great Britain],
 A Council made up of ſuch as dare not ſpeak,
 And could not if they durſt; […]
ref: 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, The Double Discovery. Acted at the Duke’s Theatre, London: Printed for Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, at Grays-inn-gate, in Grays-inn-lane, and at the Judge's-Head, in Chancery-lane, →OCLC, act IV, [scene ii], page 53:
text: "[…] Where is our little distaff member this morning?"
 "I had to send her home. She came to work this morning in her nightgown."
 Ignatius frowned and said, "I do not understand why she was sent away. After all, we are quite informal here. We are one big family. I only hope that you have not damaged her morale."
ref: 1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 5, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 95:
glosses: A woman, or women considered as a group.
Derived terms: Distaff Day
distaffer
Related terms: word: dize
word: dizen