1 in the past, a stick onto which wool or flax (= fibre from a plant) was twisted for spinning (= making thread)
The sandwich shop she's opening is a distaff alternative to the town's male-dominated coffee shop culture.
The New Jersey-born actress is among the legion of distaff comics proving women are funny.
At 15 she formed her first band, the distaff post-grunge outfit Helen.
Now his son was dead, he wanted to find out whether the family title could be passed through the distaff side to his daughter.
In times past, the spinning process began with the placement of fibers (such as flax) on an implement called a distaff.
What concord could there be between scholars and domestics, between books and distaffs, between the pen and the spindle?
The woman has her spindle and distaff, her hands are busy with the threads she is winding.
No great strength is needed to carry a comb, or to handle a distaff, or to sit by a loom.
