different between distaff vs spindle

English

Etymology

From Middle English distaf (“distaff”), from Old English distæf (“distaff”), from *dis- (“bunch of flax”) (cognate with Middle Low German dise (“bunch of flax on a distaff”)) + stæf (“staff”) (from Proto-Germanic *stabaz (“staff, stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *steb?-). Senses 3 and 5 (“anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only”; “a woman, or women considered as a group”) refer to the fact that spinning was traditionally done by women.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?st??f/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?stæf/
• Hyphenation: di?staff

Noun

distaff (plural distaffs or distaves)

1. A device to which a bundle of natural fibres (often wool, flax, or cotton) are attached for temporary storage, before being drawn off gradually to spin thread. A traditional distaff is a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it (as indicated by the etymology of the word), but modern distaffs are often made of cords weighted with beads, and attached to the wrist.
2. The part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun.
3. Anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only.
4. A race for female horses only.
5. (also collective) A woman, or women considered as a group.

Alternative forms

• distaffe (obsolete)

Derived terms

• Distaff Day

Translations

Adjective

distaff (not comparable)

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of women.

   Synonyms: female, maternal

   Antonyms: male, paternal, spear
2. Of the maternal side of a family.

Derived terms

• distaff side

Translations

References

Further reading

• distaff on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Noun

distaff

1. Alternative form of distaf

English

Alternative forms

• spindel (obsolete)
• spinnel (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English spyndel, spindle, spyndylle, from Old English spindle, spindel, alteration of earlier spinel, spinil, spinl (“spindle”), from Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu (“spindle”), equivalent to spin +? -le. Cognate with Scots spindil, spinnell (“spindle”), Dutch spindel ("spindle"; < Middle Dutch spille, spinle), German Spindel (“spindle”), Danish spindel (“spindle”), Swedish spindel (“spindle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?nd?l/
• Hyphenation: spin?dle
• Rhymes: -?nd?l

Noun

spindle (plural spindles)

1. (spinning) A rod used for spinning and then winding natural fibres (especially wool), usually consisting of a shaft and a circular whorl positioned at either the upper or lower end of the shaft when suspended vertically from the forming thread.
2. A rod which turns, or on which something turns.

   the spindle of a vane
3. A rotary axis of a machine tool or power tool.
4. Certain of the species of the genus Euonymus, originally used for making the spindles used for spinning wool.
5. An upright spike for holding paper documents by skewering.
6. The fusee of a watch.
7. A long and slender stalk resembling a spindle.
8. A yarn measure containing, in cotton yarn, 15,120 yards; in linen yarn, 14,400 yards.
9. (geometry) A solid generated by the revolution of a curved line about its base or double ordinate or chord.
10. Any marine univalve shell of the genus Tibia; a spindle stromb.
11. Any marine gastropod with a spindle-shaped shell formerly in one of the three invalid genera called Fusus.
12. (biology) A cytoskeletal structure formed during mitosis
13. (coastal New Jersey) a dragonfly, calque of Swedish slända (dragonfly/spindle), introduced by New Sweden settlers.
14. (computing) A plastic container for packaging optical discs. Bulk blank CDs, DVDs, and BDs are often sold in such a package.

Synonyms

• (a tree from the Euonymus genus): spindle tree

Hypernyms

• (a tree from the Euonymus genus): euonymus

Derived terms

• hemispindle
• sleep spindle
• spindle poison
• spindle toxin

Translations

Verb

spindle (third-person singular simple present spindles, present participle spindling, simple past and past participle spindled)

1. (transitive) To make into a long tapered shape.
2. (intransitive) To take on a long tapered shape.
3. (transitive) To impale on a device for holding paper documents.

   Do not fold, spindle or mutilate this document.

Translations

Further reading

• Spindle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Spindle (textiles) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spindle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• spindel, splined

Middle English

Noun

spindle

1. Alternative form of spyndel