What is the dictionary meaning of distaff?
1a : a staff for holding the flax, tow, or wool in spinning. b : woman’s work or domain. 2 : the female branch or side of a family.
What are synonyms for distaff?
Find another word for distaff. In this page you can discover 10 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for distaff, like: gender, femininity, muliebrity, womanhood, womankind, womenfolk, feminine, womanish, female and womanly.
What’s the opposite of distaff side?
spear side
Apparently, the masculine equivalent of the distaff side is the spear side!
What does distaff mean horse racing?
Today, the word distaff is used in horse racing to mean a class of race that consists of only female horses. …
Where does the term distaff come from?
The word “distaff” dates back to the 11th century, when it meant a staff, about a yard or so long, wound with unspun flax or wool fibers. The “dis” in “distaff” is believed to come from an old Germanic word (diesse) for a bunch of unspun flax.
What is the definition of Agnatic?
Definitions of agnatic. adjective. related on the father’s side. synonyms: agnate, paternal related. connected by kinship, common origin, or marriage.
What is a distaff cousin?
Distaff. As a noun, distaff most often refers to the female part or branch of a family. As an adjective, it describes those related through a mother—for example, your mother’s side of the family. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side.
What is the meaning of spear side?
noun. the male side, or line of descent, of a family (opposed to distaff side or spindle side).
What is the difference between a spindle and a distaff?
Spinning consists of the twisting together of drawn-out strands of fibers to form yarn. A distaff is designed to hold the unspun fibers, meanwhile a spindle is a straight spike, usually made from wood, onto which the fiber is being spun. The most commonly used fibers in Europe were wool and flax.
What is a distaff?
A distaff is the stick onto which wool or flax is wound in spinning. Since spinning was traditionally done by females, distaff took on figurative meanings relating to women or women’s work.
What is the Distaff in spinning?
The distaff in spinning is a long stick, sometimes forked, around which flax is wound and held in preparation for spinning it. Flax is an incredibly long fiber, and having it stored on the distaff makes it easier to spin.
Why is it called a Distaff race?
The distaff and spindle are symbols of womanly labour. In the north, the goddess could manifest herself as the mistress of animals, grain, distaff and loom, household, and life and death. One still recognized use of the term is in horse racing, in which races limited to female horses are referred to as distaff races.
What is a flax Distaff?
Flax is an incredibly long fiber, and having it stored on the distaff makes it easier to spin. Distaffs can also be wound with wool or tow, but the etymology of distaff makes it clear that flax was the main fiber used with the tool.