Fairfax.
2. Used as a symbol of the holder of a distaff; hence, a woman; women, collectively.
His crown usurped, a distaff on the throne.
Dryden.
Some say the crozier, some say the distaff was too busy.
Howell.
The plural is regular, but Distaves occurs in Beaumont & Fletcher.
Descent by distaff, descent on the mother's side. -- Distaff Day, or Distaff's Day, the morrow of the Epiphany, that is, January 7, because working at the distaff was then resumed, after the Christmas festival; -- called also Rock Day, a distaff being called a rock. Shipley.
Dis*tain" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distained (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Distaining.] [OE. desteinen, OF. desteindre to take away the color, F. déteindre; pref. des- (L. dis-) + F. teindre to tinge, dye, L. tingere. See Tinge, and cf. Stain.] To tinge with a different color from the natural or proper one; to stain; to discolor; to sully; to tarnish; to defile; -- used chiefly in poetry. "Distained with dirt and blood." Spenser.
[She] hath . . . distained her honorable blood.
Spenser.
The worthiness of praise distains his worth.
Shak.
Dis"tal (?), a. [From Distant.] (Physiol.) (a) Remote from the point of attachment or origin; as, the distal end of a bone or muscle; -- opposed to proximal. (b) Pertaining to that which is distal; as, the distal tuberosities of a bone.
Dis"tal*ly, adv. (Anat.) Toward a distal part.
Dis"tance (?), n. [F. distance, L. distantia.] 1. The space between two objects; the length of a line, especially the shortest line joining two points or things that are separate; measure of separation in place.
Every particle attracts every other with a force . . . inversely proportioned to the square of the distance.
Sir I. Newton.