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sideways

[sahyd-weyz]
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adverb
  1. with a side foremost.
  2. facing to the side.
  3. toward or from one side.
  4. with a deceitful, scornful, disparaging, or amorous glance.
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adjective
  1. moving, facing, or directed toward one side.
  2. indirect or evasive.
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Also sideway, side·wise [sahyd-wahyz] /ˈsaɪdˌwaɪz/.

Origin of sideways

First recorded in 1570–80; side1 + -ways

sideway

[sahyd-wey]
noun
  1. a byway.
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adjective, adverb
  1. sideways.
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Origin of sideway

First recorded in 1605–15; side1 + way1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

obliquely, sidelong, alongside, aside, athwart, indirectly, laterally, slanting, sloping, aslant, aslope, broadside, crabwise, edgeways, slantwise

Examples from the Web for sideways

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • There are three ways of doing this, forwards, backwards, and sideways.

    Orchesography

    John Weaver

  • Then she turned to Sia Kung-Schong, and smiled at him sideways.

  • That was what he had walked off sideways towards the woods for.

  • "Twist about, and go in sideways," muttered the voice first heard.

    A Son of Hagar

    Sir Hall Caine

  • In that business of trails a lady's heart has got Rome left standin' sideways.

    Faro Nell and Her Friends

    Alfred Henry Lewis

British Dictionary definitions for sideways

sideways

adverb
  1. moving, facing, or inclining towards one side
  2. from one side; obliquely
  3. with one side forward
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adjective (prenominal)
  1. moving or directed to or from one side
  2. towards or from one side
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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 sideways

adv.

1570s, from side (n.) + way, with adverbial genitive. To look sideways "cast scornful glances" is recorded from 1844.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with sideways

sideways

see knock for a loop (sideways); look sideways at.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.