edgewise

[ ej-wahyz ]

adverb

1. with the edge forward; in the direction of the edge.
2. sideways.

Word History and Origins

Origin of edgewise¹

First recorded in 1560–70; edge + -wise

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. get a word in edgewise, to succeed in entering a conversation or expressing one's opinion in spite of competition or opposition:

   There were so many people talking at once that I couldn't get a word in edgewise.

More idioms and phrases containing edgewise

see get a word in edgewise .

Example Sentences

We’ve all been in days of old where you have five people in a conference room huddled over the speakerphone and four people dialing in and you can’t get a word in edgewise, and then papers are shuffling.

From MIT Technology Review

This was halfway through a meandering phone conversation—me in my apartment in New York, he at his home in Maine—in which I spent most of the time trying to get a word in edgewise.

From Time

When there’s a big group of workers in a video meeting gathered in person, for example, it can be tough for remote employees to get “a word in edgewise,” Brown says.

From Time

Instead, Coulter gouged a string of fellow conservatives, leaving Hannity struggling to get a word in edgewise.

From The Daily Beast

It would be just like having Gingrich as VP—except that, with Sorrentino, every now and again Mitt might get a word in edgewise.

From The Daily Beast

I want to hear that man sass you over the phone, if he can get in a word edgewise, and you on the other end of the line.

From Project Gutenberg

Three flat stones were set up edgewise, and the spider set on them.

From Project Gutenberg

Set the board on edge on the horizon plane and turn it edgewise toward the sun so that a shadow of the pin is cast on the plane.

From Project Gutenberg

The approach to the pavilion from the lower level of the garden was by a carefully graded slope of Roman brick, set edgewise.

From Project Gutenberg

Zoséphine looked up to his face from the little foot that edgewise was writing nothings in the dust.

From Project Gutenberg