| 释义 |
distaff|ˈdɪstɑːf, -æ-|
Forms: 1 distæf, 4–5 distaf, 5 dysestafe, 5–6 dystaf(fe, 6–7 distaffe, 5– distaff. pl. distaffs (5–7 distaves).
[OE. distæf, supposed to be for dis- or dise-stæf, the second element being the n. staff; dis or dise is app. identical with LG. diesse (Bremen Wbch.) a bunch of flax on a distaff, and connected with dize, dizen ‘to put tow on a distaffe’ (Ray).]
1. A cleft staff about 3 feet long, on which, in the ancient mode of spinning, wool or flax was wound. It was held under the left arm, and the fibres of the material were drawn from it through the fingers of the left hand, and twisted spirally by the forefinger and thumb of the right, with the aid of the suspended spindle, round which the thread, as it was twisted or spun, was wound.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 125/21 Colus, distæf. c1386Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 563 And Malkyn with a dystaf in hir hand. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 33 Sardanapallus spynnynge reed selk at þe distaf. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 794/14 Hec colus, a dysestafe. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. i. i. 2 Wymen comynly do not entremete but to spynne on the distaf. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §146 Let thy dystaffe be alwaye redye for a pastyme. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. i. ii. (1651) 651 Tradesmen left their shops, women their distaves. 1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 78 Others with their distaves sate to spin. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 475 One common Work they ply'd; their Distaffs full With carded Locks of blue Milesian Wooll. 1816Scott Bl. Dwarf iii, Serving wenches..sate plying their distaffs. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 311 Singly the left [hand] upbore in wool soft-hooded a distaff. 1876Rock Text. Fabr. 2 Spinning from a distaff is even now common..all through Italy.
b. In proverbial and figurative phrases. † to have tow on one's distaff: to have work in hand or trouble in store (obs.).
c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 588 He hadde moore tow on his distaf Than Gerueys knew. a1420Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1226 Towe on my dystaf have I for to spynne More..than ye wote of yit. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. clxxiv. [clxx.] 520 In shorte space he shall haue more flax to his dystaffe than he can well spynne. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 60 If they fyre me, some of them shall wyn More towe on their distaues, than they can well spyn. 1853C. Brontë Villette xxv, The whole of my patience is now spun off the distaff.
2. The staff or ‘rock’ of a hand spinning-wheel, upon which the flax to be spun is placed.
1766Croker, etc. Dict. Arts s.v. Spinning, Performed on the wheel with a distaff and spindle. 1828Webster, Distaff, the staff of a spinning-wheel, to which a bunch of flax or tow is tied and from which the thread is drawn.
3. As the type of women's work or occupation.
c1386Chaucer Monk's Prol. 19 She rampeth in my face And crieth..I wol haue thy knyf And thou shalt haue my distaf and go spynne. 1605Shakes. Lear iv. ii. 17, I must change names at home, and giue the Distaffe Into my Husbands hands. 1611― Cymb. v. iii. 34 Their owne Noblenesse, which could haue turn'd A Distaffe, to a Lance. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 63 The women..so stoutly assailed the Town-House, that it was necessitated..to make them retire to the distaffe. 1821Byron Sardan. ii. i. 344, I blush that we should owe our lives to such A king of distaffs! a1839Praed Poems (1864) I. 208 His delicate hand Seemed fitter for the distaff than the spear.
b. Hence, symbolically, for the female sex, female authority or dominion; also, the female branch of a family, the ‘spindle-side’ as opposed to the ‘spear-side’; a female heir.
1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 329 He wolde not haue so noble a lordshyp runne amonge, or to be deuydyd atwene so many dystauys [i.e. his four daughters]. 1602Carew Cornwall (1723) 152 b, M. Militon..whose sonne being lost in his trauaile beyond the seas, enriched 6 distaffs with his inheritance. 1644Howell Eng. Tears (1645) 180 Some say the Crozier, some say the Distaffe was too busie. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 51 The Kingdom is hereditary, and for want of an heir male, it falls to the Distaff. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Distaff, The Crown of France never falls to the distaff. 1862Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1865) III. ix. i. 63 Old Anton being already fallen into the distaff, with nothing but three Granddaughters.
4. attrib. and Comb., as distaff-business, distaff-right, distaff-woman; distaff side, the female branch of a house or family; distaff's or St. Distaff's day, the day after Twelfth Day or the Feast of the Epiphany, on which day (Jan. 7) women resumed their spinning and other ordinary employments after the holidays; also called rock-day; distaff cane, a species of reed, the stems or canes of which are used for distaffs, arrows, fishing-rods, etc.; distaff thistle, a name of Carthamus lanatus (Cirsium lanatum), from its woolly flowering stems.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 118 Against thy State Yea Distaffe-Women manage rustie Bills. a1633S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. iii. vii. §6 (1670) 409 This inconvenience followeth the friendship of married couples, that it is mingled with so many other strange matters, children, parents of the one side and the other, and so many other distaff-businesses that do many times trouble and interrupt a lively affection. 1648Herrick Hesper., St. Distaff's Day, Partly worke and partly play Ye must on S. Distaff's day. [Ibid., Give S. Distaffe all the right, Then bid Christmas sport good night.] 1715Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXIX. 234 This differs from the Distaff-Thistle in having its upper Stalks woolly like Cobwebs. 1869Hazlitt Prov. & Phrases 304 On St. Distaff's Day, neither work nor play. 1884Miller Plant-n., Distaff Cane, Arundo Donax. 1890Temple Bar Mag. Nov. 311 ‘Is there insanity in Byng's blood?’ Not certainly on the distaff side, the side of his eminently sane and wholesome mother. 1895Pollock & Maitland Hist. Eng. Law II. 305 For a male to get a share by ‘distaff right’ [iure coli] was by no means uncommon. |