spindle side

American  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of spindle side

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

As there was, according to the immortal Cyrus Bantam, M.C., when he was giving his information to Mr. Pickwick, "nobody old or ugly in Ba-ath," so there is on "the spindle side" no one old or ugly on the stage of the Savoy Theatre.

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

The walls were panelled with dark oak up to the gallery that ran round three sides of it, the balusters of the wide staircase were heavily carved, and blackened portraits of Flurry’s ancestors on the spindle side, stared sourly down on their descendant as he tramped upstairs with the bog mould on his hobnailed boots.

From Project Gutenberg

The walls were panelled with dark oak up to the gallery that ran round three sides of it, the balusters of the wide staircase were heavily carved, and blackened portraits of Flurry's ancestors on the spindle side stared sourly down on their descendant as he tramped upstairs with the bog mould on his hobnailed boots.

From Project Gutenberg

To turn to the “spindle side,” Mr. Longfellow’s mother was Zilpah Wadsworth, eldest daughter of General Peleg Wadsworth, who was the son of Deacon Peleg Wadsworth, of Duxbury, Mass., and was the fifth in descent from Christopher Wadsworth, who came from England and settled in that town before 1632.

From Project Gutenberg