aisle
- a walkway between or along sections of seats in a theater, classroom, or the like.
- Architecture.
- a longitudinal division of an interior area, as in a church, separated from the main area by an arcade or the like.
- any of the longitudinal divisions of a church or the like.
- in the aisles, (of an audience) convulsed with laughter.
Origin of aisle
Examples from the Web for aisle
Contemporary Examples
The mistletoe must have been hanging right across the aisle on Capital Hill.
But from the outside, from my side of the aisle, the situation seems very clear.
Princess Ariel and Prince Eric walk down the aisle, and are greeted by a stout clergyman who is allegedly too happy to see them.
Many from his side of the aisle are now just as wrong on this issue as his opponents are.
Luggage spilled into the aisle as the bus pulled out of the station.
Historical Examples
Outside in the aisle stood a man with a silk hat in his hand.
The UnderdogF. Hopkinson Smith
At this the young men, who now filled the aisle, raised a mighty booing.
The Burning SpearJohn Galsworthy
He took two steps down the aisle, and caught the little figure in his arms.
Stories of a Western TownOctave Thanet
Perhaps it was Uncle Larry She had smiled at all the time, across the aisle.
The Very Small PersonAnnie Hamilton Donnell
The first Sunday that She smiled at him across the aisle was the beginning.
The Very Small PersonAnnie Hamilton Donnell
aisle
- a passageway separating seating areas in a theatre, church, etc; gangway
- a lateral division in a church flanking the nave or chancel
- rolling in the aisles informal (of an audience) overcome with laughter
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for aisle
n.
late 14c., ele, "lateral division of a church (usually separated by a row of pillars), from Old French ele "wing (of a bird or an army), side of a ship" (12c., Modern French aile), from Latin ala, related to axilla "wing, upper arm, armpit; wing of an army," from PIE *aks- "axis" (see axis), via a suffixed form *aks-la-. The root meaning in "turning" connects it with axle and axis.
Confused 15c. with unrelated ile "island" (perhaps from notion of a "detached" part of a church), and so it took an -s- when isle did, c.1700; by 1750 it had acquired an a-, on the model of French cognate aile. The word also was confused with alley, which gave it the sense of "passage between rows of pews or seats" (1731), which was thence extended to railway cars, theaters, etc.