Distaff

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Proverbs 31:19

Holman Bible Dictionary

Proverbs 31:19

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

DISTAFF . See Spinning and Weaving.

King James Dictionary

DISTAFF, n.

1. The staff of a spinning-wheel, to which a bunch of flax or tow is tied, and from which the thread is drawn.

She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. Proverbs 31 .

2. Figuratively, a woman, or the female sex.

His crown usurped, a distaff on the throne.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The staff that holds the bunch of flax or wool, which, with the spindle are implements of spinning by the hand. Proverbs 31:19 .

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dis´taf ( פלך , pelekh ): This word occurs once in Proverbs 31:19; "spindle" is found in the same passage. In the Revised Version (British and American) the meanings of the two words have been exchanged. See Spinning .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( פֶּלֶךְ, prop. a circle, e.g. a district or quarter of a city, "part," Nehemiah 3:9-18; hence the whirl of a spindle, with which, it is put in parallelism, Proverbs 31:19; once a "staff," or crutch, 2 Samuel 3:29), the instrument used for twisting the thread in spinning by its twirl. (See Spindle).