Distaff

(dis'taf.) [A.S. distæf.] The staff to which is attached the bundle of flax or tow drawn into threads by the action of the spinning-wheel. The latter apparatus has been almost entirely superseded by the spinning-jenny and other mechanical inventions. Anciently, the D. was symbolical of female labor, and dedicated to Minerva; thus, the Fates are typically represented as females spinning the thread of life from D. [s. 292]