distaff vs fibre

distaff

noun
  • The part of a spinning wheel from which fibre is drawn to be spun. 

  • A woman, or women considered as a group. 

  • 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. 

  • A race for female horses only. 

  • Anything traditionally done by or considered of importance to women only. 

adj
  • Of, relating to, or characteristic of women. 

  • Of the maternal side of a family. 

fibre

noun
  • A single piece of a given material, elongated and roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibres to form thread. 

  • Material in the form of fibres. 

  • A kind of lightweight thread of execution. 

  • A long tubular cell found in bodily tissue. 

  • Said to be of a morphism over a global element: The pullback of the said morphism along the said global element. 

  • Dietary fibre. 

  • Moral strength and resolve. 

  • The preimage of a given point in the range of a map. 

How often have the words distaff and fibre occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )