spindle side

American  

noun

1. the female side or line of descent of a family; distaff side (opposed to spear side).

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Etymology

Origin of spindle side

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Naught of gentle blood have I either on the spear side or the spindle side.

From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Madison, Lucy Foster

Stevenson came from the Balfours of Pilrig, and was of gentle blood, on the spindle side.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 1 (of 25) by Lang, Andrew

His father was Scotch, and his mother—Spanish on the spindle side and Irish by way of a most mercurial father—remained an unsolved problem all her days, even to her husband.

From The Tyranny of the Dark by Garland, Hamlin

My mother's clan--and it is from the spindle side that a man gets his traits--are all come-outers as far back as I know anything about them.

From The Power and the Glory by Keller, Arthur Ignatius

The mother has no authority in such matters nor indeed has anyone on the "spindle" side.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 16 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir