step aside


Move out of the way, as in Please step aside—I've got my arms full of groceries. This usage was first recorded in 1530.

Words Nearby step aside

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

How to use step aside in a sentence

  • Never had they known him to step aside one foot, to pause or hesitate one moment, to avoid any of them.

  • And, as Ulama came towards them, he signed to her to step aside, out of the line of fire.

  • step aside from the trodden footpath of personal experience, throwing away the petty cynicism bred of petty hopes disappointed.

    The Hills and the Vale | Richard Jefferies
  • We cannot step aside amid the heat and dust of the conflict between light and darkness, to read lessons upon legal technicalities.

    The Way to Abolish Slavery | Charles Stearns
  • It must be hard to care for a child for twenty-three years, as she says, and then have to step aside for a stranger.

    Flaming June | Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey