aisle

[ahyl]

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noun

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.

Idioms

in the aisles, (of an audience) convulsed with laughter.

Origin of aisle

1350–1400; alteration (with ai < French aile wing) of earlier isle (with s from isle), ile; replacing Middle English ele < Middle French < Latin āla wing, cognate with axle. See ala

Related formsaisled, adjectiveun·aisled, adjective

Can be confusedaisle I'll isle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for aisle

hallway, lane, avenue, corridor, path, ingress, opening, clearing, alley, walk, course, egress, way, artery, gangway, passage

Examples from the Web for aisle

Contemporary Examples of aisle

The mistletoe must have been hanging right across the aisle on Capital Hill.
Congress’ Gift That Keeps on Giving
P. J. O’Rourke
December 20, 2014
But from the outside, from my side of the aisle, the situation seems very clear.
Dear Evangelicals: You’re Being Had
Jay Michaelson
November 30, 2014
Princess Ariel and Prince Eric walk down the aisle, and are greeted by a stout clergyman who is allegedly too happy to see them.
When the Religious Right Attacked ‘The Little Mermaid’
Asawin Suebsaeng
November 20, 2014
Many from his side of the aisle are now just as wrong on this issue as his opponents are.
The Pipeline From Hell: There’s No Good Reason to Build Keystone XL
Jack Holmes
November 15, 2014
Luggage spilled into the aisle as the bus pulled out of the station.
On the Bus: Ukraine’s Frontline Express Across the Battle Lines
Ted Phillips
September 8, 2014

Historical Examples of aisle

Outside in the aisle stood a man with a silk hat in his hand.
The Underdog
F. Hopkinson Smith
At this the young men, who now filled the aisle, raised a mighty booing.
The Burning Spear
John Galsworthy
He took two steps down the aisle, and caught the little figure in his arms.
Stories of a Western Town
Octave Thanet
Perhaps it was Uncle Larry She had smiled at all the time, across the aisle.
The Very Small Person
Annie Hamilton Donnell
The first Sunday that She smiled at him across the aisle was the beginning.
The Very Small Person
Annie Hamilton Donnell

British Dictionary definitions for aisle

aisle

noun

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

Derived Formsaisled, adjectiveaisleless, adjective

Word Origin for aisle

C14 ele (later aile, aisle, through confusion with isle (island)), via Old French from Latin āla wing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for aisle

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.