Distaff vs Destaff - What's the difference?
distaff | destaff |
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 (see Etymology), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.
the part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun
anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only
a woman, or women considered as a group
* Dryden
* Howell
of, relating to, or characteristic of women
referring to the maternal side of a family
:* {{quote-book
, year=1892
, year_published=2011
, edition=HTML
, editor=
, author=Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
, title=The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
, chapter=The Noble Bachelor
As a noun distaff
is 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 (see Etymology), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.As an adjective distaff
is of, relating to, or characteristic of women.As a verb destaff is
to divest of staff or employees.distaff
English
(wikipedia distaff)Noun
(en noun)- His crown usurped, a distaff on the throne.
- Some say the crozier, some say the distaff was too busy.
Quotations
* (English Citations of "distaff")Adjective
(-)citation, genre= , publisher=The Gutenberg Project , isbn= , page= , passage=They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side. }}