Meaning & use
Distaff
Last updated
a stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning by hand.
See it in a sentence
The museum displayed an old wooden distaff used by spinners generations ago.
In the folktale, the princess pricks her finger on the spindle of a distaff.
A note on using this word
Because spinning was traditionally women's work, "distaff side" became an idiom for the maternal or female side of a family.
Words with a similar meaning
spinning stick
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. adjective
relating to women or the maternal side of a family (as in "the distaff side").
He inherited the estate through the distaff side of the family.
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