DISTAFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does distaff mean? 

• DISTAFF (noun)
  The noun DISTAFF has 2 senses:

1. the sphere of work by women

2. the staff on which wool or flax is wound before spinning

  Familiarity information: DISTAFF used as a noun is rare.

• DISTAFF (adjective)
  The adjective DISTAFF has 1 sense:

1. characteristic of or peculiar to a woman

  Familiarity information: DISTAFF used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISTAFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The sphere of work by women

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("distaff" is a kind of...):

area; arena; domain; field; orbit; sphere (a particular environment or walk of life)

Derivation:

distaff (characteristic of or peculiar to a woman)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The staff on which wool or flax is wound before spinning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("distaff" is a kind of...):

staff (a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose)

Holonyms ("distaff" is a part of...):

spinning wheel (a small domestic spinning machine with a single spindle that is driven by hand or foot)

• DISTAFF (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of or peculiar to a woman

Synonyms:

distaff; female

Context example:

female suffrage

Similar:

feminine (associated with women and not with men)

Derivation:

distaff (the sphere of work by women)

 Context examples 

And now you are going too, who could carry my thoughts out of these gray walls, and raise my mind above tapestry and distaffs.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Meek, mouse-colored donkeys, laden with panniers of freshly cut grass passed by, with a pretty girl in a capaline sitting between the green piles, or an old woman spinning with a distaff as she went.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Hush! lad,” he whispered, “I count them not a fly. They may find they have more tow on their distaff than they know how to spin. Stand thou clear and give me space.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)