sideways
- plural ofsideway
2002, Joseph Brodsky, Cynthia L. Haven,Joseph Brodsky: Conversations, page169:And he was just taking byways andsideways, travelling in the peripheries of civilization, yeah?
2006, David Haskell,Roundabout the USA, page103:In time our way merged into a throng of cars flowing here and there on the highways andsideways of the north side of Los Angeles.
2013, Pitou van Dijck,The Impact of the IIRSA Road Infrastructure Programme on Amazonia, page81:Expansion of economic activities resulted in the construction of a so—called fishbone pattern of roads andsideways.
sideways (comparativemoresideways,superlativemostsideways)
- Moving ordirected toward oneside.
Giving Mary asideways glance, he said,[…].
He gave the ball asideways kick.
- (informal)Positionedsideways(with a side to thefront).
There was a stack of papers in front of each seat at the table, but each stack wassideways.
- (informal) Neither movingupward nor movingdownward.
Once we get out of thissideways economy, our figures will more accurately reflect what we're truly capable of.
- (usually with "with", informal) In conflict (with); not compatible (with).
He was constantly gettingsideways with his boss till he got fired.
moving or directed towards one side
neither moving up nor moving down
sideways
- With aside to thefront.
He builds housessideways, with the front door on the side.
- Towards oneside.
A bishop moves only diagonally; a rook, onlysideways, forward, and back.
He lookedsideways at the new arrival, wondering who she was.
1907 August,Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, inThe Younger Set, New York, N.Y.:D. Appleton & Company,→OCLC:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squintingsideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
- Askance;sidelong.
- (informal) Neitherupward nordownward.
The economy has been movingsideways for several months now.
- (chiefly US, colloquial) Not as planned; towards a worse outcome.
We realized the project could gosideways very quickly if we didn't get the sales and marketing people on our side.
2011, D. P. Lyle, chapter 78, inHot Lights, Cold Steel,→ISBN,page340:As we walked deeper into the darkness, we both knew this could gosideways in a heartbeat. We were sitting ducks. Birds on a wire. Canaries in a coalmine.
2023 May 20, Tabby Kinder, George Hammond, quoting Ivan Matkovic, “So long, San Francisco”, inFT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:It feels like the probability of something goingsideways here is higher.
neither upward nor downward
Translations to be checked
- “sideways”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
