[f. SPINDLE sb., after older Teutonic combs. Cf. OFris. spindelsida, MLG. spinelside, G. spindelseite; MDu. and MLG. spille(n)-, spilside (Du. spillezijde, G. spillseite); also OE. spinlhealf, MLG. spillhalbe, MDu. and OFris. spindelhant. The female line of descent.
1851. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., I. 526. When … traditions of royalty are deduced through the spindleside, marriages accomplish the most radical of revolutions.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq., viii. II. 243. One whose connexion with Normandy was only by the spindle-side.
1870. Lowell, Study Wind., 246. Such and such qualities he got from … a great-uncle on the spindle side.
