sideline
[sahyd-lahyn]
- a line at the side of something.
- a business or activity pursued in addition to one's primary business; a second occupation.
- an additional or auxiliary line of goods: a grocery store with a sideline of household furnishings.
- Sports.
- sidelines, the position or point of view taken by a person who observes an activity or situation but does not directly participate in it.
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- to render incapable of participation, especially in anything involving vigorous, physical action, as a sport: An injury to his throwing arm sidelined the quarterback for two weeks.
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Origin of sideline
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sideline
Contemporary Examples
The Democrats were able to sideline Kucinich and avoid a divisive impeachment battle.
Back in 2005, Franklin had referred to sideline reporter Holly Rowe as “sweetheart.”
Even after she left its barbed bosom, it did its best to further excommunicate and sideline her.
Which sideline reporter will appear on television first after kickoff: Erin Andrews or Pam Oliver?
A few minutes later, Ferguson, having been revived, sat on the sideline, helmet off, hair tousled, dazed.
Historical Examples
It seemed that the sideline of mountain-tops had a little light on them.
Wandl the InvaderRaymond King Cummings
Even then he had enough surplus energy to run a sideline in literature.
A Circuit Rider's WifeCorra Harris
The midnight hours he spent in the pineal gland were only a sideline of his work.
The BrainAlexander Blade
An elementary school teacher who taught music as a sideline, Gladys Thompson, organized an orchestra about 1928.
Frying Pan FarmElizabeth Brown Pryor
The business flourished and some one advised my friend that he should put in popcorn as a sideline.
sideline
- sport a line that marks the side boundary of a playing area
- a subsidiary interest or source of income
- an auxiliary business activity or line of merchandise
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- to prevent (a player) from taking part in a game
- to prevent (a person) from pursuing a particular activity, operation, career, etc
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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 sideline
n.
also side-line, "line on the side of a fish," 1768; "lines marking the limits of playing area" (on a football field, etc.), 1862, from side (adj.) + line (q.v.). Meaning "course of business aside from one's regular occupation" is from 1890. Railway sense is from 1890. The figurative sense of "position removed from active participation" is attested from 1934 (from the railway sense or from sports, because players who are not in the game stand along the sidelines). The verb meaning "put out of play" is from 1945. Related: Sidelined; sidelining.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper