▪ I. ˈsideway, n.
Also side-way.
[side n.1 23. Cf. MDu. sijt-, zijdwech (Du. zijweg), G. seitenweg, Da. sidevej, Sw. sidoväg.]
1. A path or way diverging from, or lying to the side of, a main road; a byway; also fig.
| 1552 Huloet, Bypathes, bywaye, or sydewaye, out of the hyghe waye. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 220 We took a side-way towards the towns. 1832 Brewster Nat. Magic ii. 17 In a path or road where there was no side-way by which the figure could escape. 1874 L. Carr J. Gwynne I. iii. 69 From this her mind would slant off into a sideway. |
2. A (raised) path along the side of a road; a footway. Now U.S. Cf. sidewalk 2.
| 1738 Richardson De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 2) III. 319 A Causeway or Walk, well pav'd with flat Freestone, such as the Side-ways in Cheapside and Cornhil. 1852 D. G. Mitchell Reveries Bachelor iv. i. vii, Below, dim figures are gathering on the narrow sideways to look at the solemn spectacle. 1886 Philadelphia Times 9 Apr. (Cent.), Every inch of roadway,..and every inch of sideway,..was covered by people. |
| attrib. 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath (1808) 24 Mark the father 'mid the sideway throng. |
▪ II. ˈsideway, adv. and a.
[side n.1]
A. adv. = sideways adv.
| 1612 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. (1634) 33 The beames of the Sunne comming oblikely or sideway. 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 8 The first course being laid the lesser part out-side; the second the length laid side-way. 1776 Trial of Nundocomar 21/2 Maha Rajah then looked at me sideway angrily. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §174 At the distance of a foot sideway it might have got through by piercing the wall alone. c 1850 Lowell Extreme Unction vi, My snake-turned nature, sunk in slime, Starts sideway with defiant hiss. 1851 Hawthorne Ho. Seven Gables vi, The faint gleam..showed the blanched paleness of her cheek, turned sideway towards a corner. |
B. adj. Directed or moving towards or from one side; indirect; sidelong.
| c 1800 R. Cumberland J. de Lancaster (1809) I. 274 Paying a side-way compliment to his daughter. 1810 Crabbe Borough iii. 322 But there is hope that from these founts may flow A side-way stream, and equal good bestow. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola iv, [He] turned a slow sideway gaze on the stranger. 1883 Nonconf. & Independent 20 Dec. 1146/3 A stolen sideway peep into other men's bosoms. |