aisle--prophetes.ai

aisle
  (aɪl)
  Forms: α. 4–5 ele, hele, 5 ille, eill(e, eyle, 5–6 yle, ylle, 5–8 ile, (5 ilde). β. (6 yland) 6–8 isle. γ. 8 aile, ayle, 8– aisle.
  [Orig. a. OFr. ele, eele:—L. āla wing (contr. from axilla). Refashioned in Fr. after L. as aelle 15th c., æle, aile 16th c.; in 15th–16th c. Fr. also occas. written aisle in imitation of med.L. ascella, the common term for the wing of a building, for L. axilla. In Eng. confused in 15th. c. with ile, yle island (perh. with the idea of a detached or distinct portion of a church), and refashioned with this, a1700, as isle; recently modified after Fr. aile to aisle. The latter spelling is thus a cross between isle and aile, and has no connexion with earlier Fr. aisle. It was hesitatingly admitted by Johnson 1755; see quot. 4 b. Lat. āla besides being confounded in mediæval use with aula, was confused with OFr. alee, Fr. allée, Eng. alley, which led to a mixture of the senses of aisle and alley; while the confusion with ile, isle, made yland an occasional Eng. equivalent, and insula the ordinary Lat. rendering in 15–16th c.]
  1. A wing or lateral division of a church; the part on either side of the nave, usually divided from the latter by a row of pillars.

α c 1370 Inscr. in Cawston Ch., ‘Orate pro animâ Roberti Oxburgh..qui istud ele fieri fecit.’ 1398 in Reg. Test. Ebor. I. 219 Ecclesiæ de Schirefhoton ad ponendum plumbum super le south hele xxs. 1410 Ibid. IV. 42 The foresaid Richard hase undirtaken for to make the south eill. 1418 in E.E. Wills (1883) 38 Þat it go to þe Lee Cherche, to þe Eyle. 1428 Ibid., The Ille of the toon Side of the Cloistere. 1428 in R. Test. Eb. II. 665 In portica qui vulgariter y⊇ yle S.M. dicitur. 1463 in Bury Wills (1850) 38 If ther be maad an ele ther the vestry is. 1471 Sir J. Paston in Lett. 676 III. 16 The grounde off the qwyr is hyer than the grownde off the ilde. 1490 in R. Test. Eb. IV. 60 To be beried in the Trinite church, in the north ile. 1533 Ibid. XI. 61 In the ylle affore our Lady. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccles. Hist. (1619) 189 He builded seats and goodly yles on either side. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 121 Then he comes vpon thee with I'le, I'le, I'le. Hee might as well write against Poules for hauing three Iles in it. 1681 Wyndham King's Concealm. 85 He sate in an Ile distinct from the body of the Congregation. 1711 Pope Temp. Fame 265 And arches widen, and long iles extend. 1756 J. Warton Ess. on Pope (1782) I. §6. 339 The long ile of a great Gothic church.

β 1590 Wills & Invent. N. Counties (1860) II. 183 In the portch in the south yland of the church. 1673 Ray Journ. Low Countries 261 A double isle on each side the nave. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 20 ¶2 One whole isle has been disturbed with one of these monstrous starers. 1772 Pennant Tours in Scotl. (1774) 58 On the isles on each side are some strange legendary painting. 1796 Pegge Anonym. (1809) 251 One cannot approve of the mode of writing isles of a church..The absurdity appears from the will of Richard Smith, Vicar of Wirksworth, made in 1504, wherein he makes a bequest for the reparation ‘Imaginis S'ti Marie in insulâ predicti eccles. de Wyrkysworth.’

γ 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 397 As up the Ayle, with Mind disturb'd, I walk. 1755 [See 4 b]. 1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) II. lxviii. 54 As he treads the solemn aile. 1789 [see 4 a]. 1821 W. Craig Drawing &c. vii. 368 Grave-stones occasionally found in the ailes. 1848 Lytton Harold iv. ii. 85 As the swell of an anthem in an aisle.

δ [1358 in Reg. Thoresby (York), In posteriori parte porticus sive aulæ..in loco eminenciore dicti porticus sive alæ.]

2. fig.

1789 E. Darwin Loves of Plants iv. 9 Long ailes of Oaks. 1818 Keats Endymion iv. 977 Through the dark pillars of those sylvan aisles. 1854 J. Abbott Napoleon (1855) II. xxi. 385 Through the deep aisles of the forest. 1878 B. Taylor Deukal. ii. v. 93 Arching aisles of the pine, receive us.

† 3. cross aisle: a transept. Obs.

1451 in R. Test. Eb. II. 157 Ad facturam—de lez crosse yles. a 1500 W. Worcestre 290 (in Parker Gloss. Arch. s.v.) Longitudo de la crosse eele..In medio de la crosse eele scituatur. 1662 Fuller Worthies iii. 144 The Cross Isle of this Church is the most beautifull and lightsome of any I have yet beheld. 1772 Hist. Rochester 58 At the entrance of the choir is a great cross isle.

4. By extension of the strict architectural meaning, used also for: a. Any division of a church.

1762 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (1786) III. 106 A pillar in the middle isle of the church. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi France & It. II. 100 Warwick Castle would be contained in its middle aisle. 1835 Whewell Germ. Churches (ed. 2) 26 Among the liberties taken with language..I should mention the employment of the word ‘aisle’ for the central space, nave or choir, as well as for the lateral spaces of a building. 1836 Parker Gloss. Arch. s.v., Many writers of authority apply the word Isle to the central as well as the lateral compartments. Thus Brown Willis [a 1760] has ‘middle Isle’ repeatedly, and even describes the Cathedral Church of Man as consisting of two single Isles crossing each other. 1861 Nicholson Annals of Kendal 42 The church..consists of the nave, chancel, and four side aisles, so that it consists of five open aisles.

b. (By confusion with alley) A passage in a church between the rows of pews or seats. broad aisle (U.S.): see broad a. D. 2.

1731–42 Bailey, Isles, Certain straight Passages between Pews within a Church. 1755 Johnson, ‘Aisle [Thus written by Addison, but perhaps improperly, since it seems deducible only from either aile a wing, or allée a path, and is therefore to be written aile.] The walks in a church or wings of a quire.’ 1766 Goody Two-Shoes (1881) 55, I then walked up and down all the Isles of the Church. 1856 E. B. Denison Ch. Build. iii. 113 An aisle is..a wing, not a passage, as people seem to imagine who talk of the ‘middle aisle’ of a church. 1871 Congreg. Year-bk. 410 The aisles and lobbies of the church are laid in tiles.

5. a. A passage-way in a building (esp. a theatre, cinema, etc.), a train, etc. orig. north. dial. and U.S.

1755 in J. N. Scott Bailey's Dict., Isle..a long passage in a church or public building. 1827 Western Monthly Rev. I. 73 The long aisles of all the stories [of a factory] to the fourth loft. 1842 Fanny Butler in Bentley's Misc. XII. 2 The seats..are placed down the whole length of the vehicle, one behind the other, leaving a species of aisle in the middle for the uneasy..to fidget up and down. 1851 J. J. Hooper Widow Rugby's Husb. 103, I have seen him..charge..into one door of the court-house, dash furiously along the aisle [etc.]. 1873 Sat. Rev. 22 Nov. 662/2 The Deputy-Sheriff placed his prisoners in the smoking-car of the train... The aisle was packed. 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur v. xiii, As the four stout servants carried the merchant in his chair up the aisle [in the circus], curiosity was much excited. 1890 N. & Q. 19 July 53/1, I have heard the space between the counters of a shop called ‘the aisle’ in Liverpool. 1903 A. I. Bacheller Darrel of Blessed Isles xiv. 148 Small boys would be chasing each other up and down aisles [of the school]. 1909 Daily Chron. 16 Feb. 4/7 [In America] all gangways and narrow paths whether in theatres, shops, or omnibuses, are ‘aisles’. 1921 Wodehouse Jill the Reckless xviii. 260 The audience began to move up the aisles. 1961 R. Graves More Poems 33 Bring the charge-nurse scuttling down the aisle With morphia-needle levelled. 1965 G. Melly Owning Up vi. 61 Pat would..scurry down the coach aisle.

b. Colloq. phr. to have, lay, send (people) (rolling) in the aisles: to make (an audience) laugh uncontrollably; to be a great theatrical success. Also transf.

1940 Wodehouse Quick Service xii. 136, I made the speech of a lifetime. I had them tearing up the seats and rolling in the aisles. 1943 D. W. Brogan Eng. People vii. 202 This trick had the population, white and coloured, rolling in the aisles. 1954 N. Coward Future Indef. i. 17 This, to use a theatrical phrase, had them in the aisles! In fact, two of my inquisitors laughed until they cried. 1959 Sunday Express 11 Oct. 6/5 A book that sends my English friends rolling in the aisles. 1959 Times 14 Dec. 13/4 We looked forward to a school play which would really lay them in the aisles.

6. A double row of wheat-sheaves set up to dry. local.

1794 T. Davis Agric. Wilts. 76 The general custom of Wiltshire, is, to set up the sheafs in double rows,..and the sheaves so set up are called an aile. 1839 ‘M. Gray’ Last Sentence II. iii. i. 206 Paler gold of piled sheaves ‘in aisle’ on upland slopes. 1904 Daily Mail 10 Sept. 3/7 In the Isle of Wight, what is locally described as an ‘aisle’ of corn standing in a field..was struck by lightning.