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# distaff

«distaff» in Mova's school dictionary: **A stick or stand that holds wool or flax while it is spun…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (distaffs)

### meaning for a pupil

(old use) A stick or stand that holds wool or flax while it is spun into thread by hand. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distaff/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

in fairy tales a spinning tool used by the wife or the spinner in the house

### examples

- The old wife sat by the fire and worked at her distaff. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distaff/#x1)
- She spun the thread from the distaff all day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distaff/#x2)

### note

nothing for maths

### In the corpora

- [She layeth her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.916/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «distaff» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/distaff/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.