: 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
Illustration of distaff
D distaff 1a
S spindle
Did you know?
The word distaff was first used for a short staff that held a bundle of fibers—of flax or wool, for example—ready to be spun into yarn or thread. Since spinning was a basic daily task customarily done by women, the distaff came to be the symbol for the work or domain of women. This symbolic use of the noun distaff dates back to the time of Chaucer and is found in several works by Shakespeare. Eventually distaff came to be used for the female branch of a family and then as an adjective, as in "the distaff side of the family."
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
An Elm Drive victory would give trainer Phil D’Amato a very successful weekend on the distaff side of the ledger.—Bill Center, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Sep. 2021 The personal rivalries on the distaff side became apparent during the transition: When the Bushes won, Nancy did not invite Barbara to tour the living quarters until January 11 — much later than was traditional.—NBC News, 21 Apr. 2018 Even if a separate, distaff canon is built, the atmosphere against which it’s being constructed is, gradually, becoming more integrated.—Wesley Morris, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2017 And behind the camera, Scherfig has created something of a distaff utopia: both the book and the screenplay were written by women.—Richard Lawson, VanityFair.com, 6 Apr. 2017
Noun
This is a phenomenal distaff triple bill of country music.—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Feb. 2023 Other objects discarded along the way include a knife and its wooden handle; a birchbark container; a wooden needle; tinderbox; a wooden whisk; and a distaff, a tool that was used to hold wool as it was spun by hand.—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 15 Apr. 2020 Twenty-four percent of distaff protagonists starred in dramas, while 21 percent were in comedies, 16 percent were in action features, 8 percent starred in science-fiction films and 5 percent led animated features.—Katherine Schaffstall, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Jan. 2020 With the victory, Uni might have wrested the distaff turf championship from Sistercharlie, who earlier ran third in the Filly & Mare Turf.—BostonGlobe.com, 1 Aug. 2019 Ivins was something like a cross between Kristofferson and Joplin: part good old boy (distaff division); part full-throated, tangle-haired star.—BostonGlobe.com, 12 Sep. 2019 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'distaff.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English distaf, from Old English distæf, from dis- (akin to Middle Low German dise bunch of flax) + stæf staff
: a staff for holding the flax or wool in spinning
2
: the female branch or side of a family
distaff
2 of 2adjective
: of, relating to, or being a woman
the distaff side of the family
distaff skiers
Etymology
Noun
from earlier distaff (noun) "a staff for holding flax or wool for spinning," from Old English distæf (same meaning), from dis- "bunch of flax" and stæf "staff"
Word Origin
Before the invention of the spinning wheel, the spinning of yarn or thread was traditionally done by women using a spindle and a distaff. A spindle was a long spool to hold and spin the yarn. A distaff was a short rod with an opening or branches at the top for holding the flax or wool. The word distæf in Old English meant literally "flax staff," from dis- "a bunch of flax" and stæf "staff." Because women usually did the spinning, the distaff came to be a symbol for women's work. The word distaff in time took on the meaning "women's work" and later "woman." The noun distaff is rarely used in this way today, but the female members of a family are still referred to as the distaff side.
Share