Paternal vs Distaff - What's the difference?
paternal | distaff |
Of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family
Fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father.
Received or inherited from one's father.
* Dryden
Acting as a father
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
Paternal is an antonym of distaff.
As a adjective paternal
is of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family.paternal
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- paternal grandfather
- their small paternal field of corn
- paternal filicide
Derived terms
* paternalism * paternalistic * paternally * paternal aunt * paternal cousin * paternal grandfather * paternal grandmother * paternal uncleAntonyms
* maternal – motherCoordinate terms
* avuncular – uncle * maternal – mother * materteral – auntAnagrams
* ----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. }}