Distaff

(noun.) the staff on which wool or flax is wound before spinning.

(noun.) the sphere of work by women.

校对:维托

• In spinning fine numbers of yarn, a workman in a self-acting mule will do the work of 3,000 hand-spinners with the distaff and spindle. 弗雷德里克·科利尔·贝克维尔. 伟大的事实.
• Hercules holding the distaff was but a faint type of Peter bearing the roses. 夏洛蒂·勃朗特. 雪莉.
• Another story says that he came to hold the distaff, and at last wore the Nessus shirt. 乔治·艾略特. 米德尔马契.
• The Distaff and the Spindle, without a Change from Ancient Days to Middle of Fourteenth Century. 威廉·亨利·杜利特. 世纪发明.
• May the evil demon Zernebock tear me limb from limb, if I leave my own cell ere I have spun out the hemp on my distaff! 沃尔特·司各特. 艾凡赫.
• They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the distaff side. 阿瑟·柯南·道尔. 福尔摩斯历险记.

整理:拉尔夫