| 单词 | an old woman's rock-staff |
| 释义 | > as lemmasan old woman's rock-staff A distaff. Chiefly figurative: a superstition or superstitious piece of proverbial wisdom; esp. in an old woman's rock-staff. Cf. rock n.2 ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > fancy or fantastic notion > [noun] phantoma1375 fantasyc1440 conceitc1450 fancy1471 crotchet1573 whim-wham1580 vision1592 reverie1602 whimsy1607 windmill1612 brainworm1617 maggota1625 vapour1631 flama1637 fantastic1641 idea1660 whim1697 rockstaff1729 whigmaleery1730 vagary1753 freak1785 whimsy-whamsy1807 crankum1822 whimmery1837 the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture of thread or yarn > [noun] > spinning > distaff distaffc1000 rocka1325 spin-rock1484 rockstick1821 rockstaffa1825 1729 D. Defoe Madagascar 394 I have seen the People..spin it with a Spindle made of a Bone, and a Rock-staff. 1765 Compl. Maltster & Brewer p. xxiii The notion of pease bloom, and weeds being up in the water, is but a meer old woman's rockstaff. 1818 ‘Ex’ Freedom of Eng. 263 In the cause of the Bourbons must be recognized..the cause of old women's rockstaves and stupid prejudices, obsolete laws, bad customs, and old abuses. a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) II. 279 Rock-staff,..a distaff; from which..the wool was spun ‘by twirling a ball below’... ‘An old woman's rockstaff,’ is a contemptuous expression for a silly superstitious fancy. 1867 Notes & Queries 3rd Ser. 11 215 She is so full of her old woman's rock-staffs. 1895 P. H. Emerson Birds, Beasts, & Fishes Norfolk Broadland ii. xix. 396 There is a curious rockstaff in the marshlands that a viper's slough will draw thorns from your flesh. < as lemmas |
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