side

• enPR: sīd, IPA^(key): /saɪd/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /səɪd/
• Hyphenation: side
• Rhymes: -aɪd
• Homophone: sighed (except Scotland)

From Middle English side, from Old English sīde (“side, flank”), from Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ (“side, flank, edge, shore”), from Proto-Indo-European *sēy- (“to send, throw, drop, sow, deposit”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Siede (“side”), West Frisian side (“side”), Dutch zijde, zij (“side”), German Low German Sied (“side”), German Seite (“side”), Danish and Norwegian side (“side”), Swedish sida (“side”).

The LGBTQ slang sense was coined by sex therapist and author Joe Kort in 2010 and popularized in 2013.^[1][2] The sense was coined by analogy with top and bottom and based on the metaphor of a box which has a top, bottom, and sides.^[1][2]

side (countable and uncountable, plural sides)

1. A bounding straight edge of a two-dimensional shape.

   A square has four sides.

2. A flat surface of a three-dimensional object; a face.

   A cube has six sides.

3. One half (left or right, top or bottom, front or back, etc.) of something or someone.

   Which side of the tray shall I put it on?  The patient was bleeding on the right side.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine. […] As we reached the lodge we heard the whistle, and we backed up against one side of the platform as the train pulled up at the other.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.

4. A region in a specified position with respect to something.

   Meet me on the north side of the monument.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

6. The portion of the human torso usually covered by the arms when they are not raised; the areas on the left and right between the belly or chest and the back.

   Meronyms: flank, loin; latus, lumbus

   I generally sleep on my side.

   • 2006, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured (Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, p. 234:

     Roll the patient onto the left side so that head, shoulders, and torso move at the same time without twisting.

7. One surface of a sheet of paper (used instead of "page", which can mean one or both surfaces.)

   John wrote 15 sides for his essay!

8. One possible aspect of a concept, person, or thing.

   Look on the bright side.

9. One set of competitors in a game.

   Which side has kick-off?

10. (UK, Australia, Ireland) A sports team.
    • 1988, Ken Jones with Pat Welton Crown, Soccer skills & tactics, page 9:

      Newly promoted, they were top of the First Division and unbeaten when they took on a Manchester United side that had been revitalized by a new manager, […].

    • 2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:

      It was no less than Valencia deserved after dominating possession in the final 20 minutes although Chelsea defended resolutely and restricted the Spanish side to shooting from long range.

    • 2011, Nick Cain, Greg Growden, Rugby Union For Dummies, 3rd edition, UK, page 220:

      Initially, the English, Welsh, Scots and Irish unions refused to send national sides, preferring instead to send touring sides like the Barbarians, the Penguins, the Co-Optimists, the Wolfhounds, Crawshays Welsh, and the Public School Wanderers.

11. A group of morris dancers who perform together.
12. A group having a particular allegiance in a conflict or competition.

    there are two sides to every question

    Although there are two sides to every story, the fallacy that they are inevitably equally ethical is called bothsidesism.

    In the Second World War, the Italians were on the side of the Germans until Italy switched sides in 1943.

    • 2019, VOA Learning English (public domain)

      "Creating artificial rain over the Yellow Sea would help the Chinese side too," the spokesman said Kim told the meeting.

      Audio (US):

      (file)

    • 1824, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations: Lord Chesterfield and Lord Chatham:

      We have not always been of the […] same side in politics.

    • 1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:

      sets the passions on the side of truth

13. (music) A recorded piece of music; a record, especially in jazz.
    • 1995, James Lincoln Collier, Jazz: The American Theme Song, page 41:

      But Bechet chafed under even the loose discipline of the Ellington group, and left. Through these years he wandered, making only a few sides, at the moment when jazz records were beginning to flood onto the market.

14. (sports, billiards, snooker, pool) Sidespin; english

    He had to put a bit of side on to hit the pink ball.

15. (British, Australia, Ireland, dated) A television channel, usually as opposed to the one currently being watched (from when there were only two channels).

    I just want to see what's on the other side — James said there was a good film on tonight.

16. (US, Philippines, colloquial) A dish that accompanies the main course; a side dish.

    Do you want a side of cole-slaw with that?

17. A line of descent traced through a particular relative, usually a parent or spouse, as distinguished from that traced through another.

    his mother's side of the family

    • 1671, John Milton, “The Third Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

      To sit upon thy father David's throne, / By Mothers side thy father.

    • 2016 February 27, Sean M. Teaford, Out on the Limbs: Searching for Answers in the Family Tree, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

      Thankfully our son agreed and chose a name which, according to what I have been told is the name of the last in a long line of Rabbis on my wife's side.

18. (baseball) The batters faced in an inning by a particular pitcher.

    Clayton Kershaw struck out the side in the 6th inning.

19. (slang, dated, uncountable) An unjustified air of self-importance.
    • 1930, Frank Richards, “Tale-Bearer in Chief”, in The Magnet:

      His manner never had been modest or retiring. Now it was unmistakably swanky; he was putting on side to an extent that made fellows who observed him smile and shrug their shoulders.

20. (drama) A written monologue or part of a scene to be read by an actor at an audition.
    • 2010, Viola Spolin, Carol Sills, Theater Games for Rehearsal: A Director's Handbook, page 12:

      Some directors use full scripts (book); others use “sides,” which consist of one or two words of the cue and the subsequent full speech of the individual actor.

    • 2017, Dave Kost, Book of Sides II:

      The short scenes in this book are particularly useful for audition workshops since audition sides are rarely longer than two pages.

21. (LGBTQ, slang) A man who prefers not to engage in anal sex during same-sex sexual activity.

    My boyfriend and I are both sides; we prefer to do oral and other stuff.

22. (mathematics, obsolete) A root.
    • 1723, Edward Wells, The Young Gentleman's Arithmetick, and Geometry, page 127:

      And 9 is said to be the Square, 27 the Cube of 3, which is call'd the Side of 9 and 27, &c.

• (bounding straight edge of an object): edge
• (flat surface of an object): face
• (left or right half): half
• (surface of a sheet of paper): page
• (region in a specified position with respect to something):
• (one possible aspect of a concept):
• (set of opponents in a game): team
• (group having a particular allegiance in a war):
• (television channel): channel, station (US)

• English terms suffixed with -side

side (comparative more side, superlative most side)

1. Being on the left or right, or toward the left or right; lateral.
   • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number):

     One mighty squadron with a side wind sped.

2. Indirect; oblique; incidental.

   a side issue; a side view or remark

   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     The law hath no side respect to their persons.

side (third-person singular simple present sides, present participle siding, simple past and past participle sided)

1. (intransitive) To ally oneself, be in an alliance, usually with "with" or rarely "in with"

   Which will you side with, good or evil?

   • 1597, Francis Bacon, “Of Great Place”, in Essays:

     All rising to great place is by a winding star; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self, whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed.

   • 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC, canto V:

     All side in parties, and begin the attack.

   • 1958, Archer Fullingim, The Kountze [Texas] News, August 28, 1958:

     How does it feel... to... side in with those who voted against you in 1947?

2. To lean on one side.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To be or stand at the side of; to be on the side toward.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 27:

     His blind eye that syded Paridell.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To suit; to pair; to match.
   • 1660-1667, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon

     He had ſure read more , and carried more about him , in his excellent Memory , than any Man I ever knew , my Lord Falkland only excepted , who I think ſided him

5. (transitive, shipbuilding) To work (a timber or rib) to a certain thickness by trimming the sides.
6. (transitive) To furnish with a siding.

   to side a house

7. (transitive, cooking) To provide with, as a side or accompaniment.
   • 1995, Orange Coast Magazine, volume 11, number 8, page 166:

     Entrees are sided with a generous portion of vegetables, and some include little surprises […]

   • 2009 March 14, Corey Mintz, “Stop and cheer chefs' dedication to quality”, in Toronto Star‎^[3]:

     A chocolate cakelette, caramel percolating from its warm top, is sided with peanut butter chantilly cream.

• (ally oneself):
• take side

• side against
• side with
• siding

• ally
• alliance
• join in

From Middle English side, syde, syd, from Old English sīd (“wide, broad, spacious, ample, extensive, vast, far-reaching”), from Proto-West Germanic *sīd, from Proto-Germanic *sīdaz (“drooping, hanging, low, excessive, extra”), from Proto-Indo-European *sēy- (“to send, throw, drop, sow, deposit”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch zijd (“wide, vast”), Low German sied (“low”), Swedish sid (“long, hanging down”), Icelandic síður (“low hanging, long”).

side (comparative more side, superlative most side)

1. (UK archaic, dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Wide; large; long, pendulous, hanging low, trailing; far-reaching.
   • c. 1556, Thomas Cranmer, “That the general counsels withoute the worde of god are not sufficiente to make articles of fayth”, in A Confutation of Unwritten Verities‎^[4]:

     But when he perceaved that the sayd Pryest could not pourge himself of the foresayd crime he prively payed him his quarters wages before hande and suffered hym to departe without farther tryall of the sayd cryme: and now he jetteth in london wyth side gown and sarcenet typet as good a virgin priest as the best.

   • 1575, Robert Laneham, “The auncient Minstrell described”, in F. J. Furnivall, editor, Robert Laneham’s Letter: Describing a Part of the Entertainment unto Queen Elizabeth at the Castle of Kenelworth in 1575‎^[5], London: Chatto & Windus, published 1907, page 38:

     Hiz gooun had syde sleeuez dooun to midlegge, slit from the shooulder too the hand, & lined with white cotten.

   • c. 1590 (date written), G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, →OCLC, [lines 47-50]:

     What doe we make dost thou aske? why we make faces for feare: such as if thy mortall eyes could behold, would make thee water the long seames of thy side slops […]

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     By my troth, ’s but a night-gown in respect of yours: cloth o’ gold, and cuts, and laced with silver, set with pearls, down sleeves, side sleeves, and skirts, round underborne with a bluish tinsel […]

2. (Scotland) Far; distant.

• sidth

side (comparative more side, superlative most side)

1. (UK dialectal) Widely; wide; far.

side (third-person singular simple present sides, present participle siding, simple past and past participle sided)

1. To clear, tidy or sort.
   • 1883, Jane Welsh Carlyle, Thomas Carlyle, James Anthony Froude, Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle - Volume 1, page 292:

     Meanwhile I have plenty to employ me, in siding drawers and locked places, which I left in the disgracefullest confusion ;

   • 1897, Sir Hall Caine, The Manxman - Volume 2, page 304:

     Now side everything away. The medicines too —put them in the cupboard.

   • 2001, Audrey Howard, The Seasons Will Pass:

     As it had done then, Clare's heart, in a constant state of stress these days, missed a beat now, and she turned hastily to the table where she was siding the dinner things, doing her best to hide her expression which surely would give her away.

• Edis, Desi, eids, deis, ESDI, DESI, Ides, IEDs, SEID, EIDs, sied, IDEs, ides, Eids, Dies, Dise, dies, desi

From Old Norse síða.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːdə/, [ˈs̺iːð̩˕˗ˠ]
• Rhymes: -iːdə

side c (singular definite siden, plural indefinite sider)

1. page

• “side” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “side” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

From Proto-Finnic *sidek. Equivalent to siduma +‎ -e.

side (genitive sideme, partitive sidet)

1. bond, binding
2. bandage
3. relationship, tie

Declension of side (ÕS type 4/ase, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		side	sidemed
accusative	nom.
	gen.	sideme
genitive			sidemete
partitive		sidet	sidemeid
illative		sidemesse	sidemetesse sidemeisse
inessive		sidemes	sidemetes sidemeis
elative		sidemest	sidemetest sidemeist
allative		sidemele	sidemetele sidemeile
adessive		sidemel	sidemetel sidemeil
ablative		sidemelt	sidemetelt sidemeilt
translative		sidemeks	sidemeteks sidemeiks
terminative		sidemeni	sidemeteni
essive		sidemena	sidemetena
abessive		sidemeta	sidemeteta
comitative		sidemega	sidemetega

• kaelaside

side (genitive side, partitive sidet)

1. communication (especially one achieved through technology)
2. signal (especially in radio)

   Miks sidet pole?

   Why is there no signal?

3. communications (as a field)
4. (colloquial) post office

Declension of side (ÕS type 16/pere, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		side	sided
accusative	nom.
	gen.	side
genitive			sidede
partitive		sidet	sidesid
illative		sidde sidesse	sidedesse
inessive		sides	sidedes
elative		sidest	sidedest
allative		sidele	sidedele
adessive		sidel	sidedel
ablative		sidelt	sidedelt
translative		sideks	sidedeks
terminative		sideni	sidedeni
essive		sidena	sidedena
abessive		sideta	sidedeta
comitative		sidega	sidedega

• otseside

From Proto-Finnic *sidek. Equivalent to sitoa (“to bind, tie”) +‎ -e.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsideˣ/, [ˈs̠ide̞(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -ide
• Hyphenation^(key): si‧de

side

1. bandage (medical binding or strip of cloth used as a blindfold)
2. bond (that which binds, a band)
3. bond (emotional link, connection or union)
4. sanitary towel, sanitary napkin

   Synonyms: terveysside, kuukautisside

5. (anatomy) ligament

   Synonym: ligamentti

• sidos

• “side”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[6] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

• desi, desi-

sīde

1. second-person singular present active imperative of sīdō

From Old Irish saiget, from Latin sagitta.

side f (genitive singular sidey, plural sideyn)

1. arrow, bolt, shaft

• fleit
• sideyr (“archer”)

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “saiget”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːd(ə)/

From Old English sīde.

• zide (Kent)

side

1. side

• English: side
• Scots: side, syde
• Yola: zeide

• “sīde, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

side

1. Alternative form of seed (“seed”)

From Old Irish síd, from Proto-Celtic *sīdos (“mound (inhabited by fairies); peace”), from Proto-Indo-European *sēds, from *sed- (“to sit”).

side m

1. fairy hill or mound
2. peace

• áes side (“people of the fairy mounds, supernatural beings, fairies”)

• Irish: sí, síth
• Manx: shee
• Scottish Gaelic: sìth, sìdh

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 síd, síth ‘fairy mound’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 síd, síth ‘peace’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From Old Norse síða.

side f or m (definite singular sida or siden, indefinite plural sider, definite plural sidene)

1. a page (e.g. in a book)
2. side

   på høyre side ― on the right-hand side

3. (of a case) aspect
4. (on animal) flank

• IPA^(key): /²siː(d)ə/

From Old Norse síða. Akin to English side.

side f (definite singular sida, indefinite plural sider, definite plural sidene)

1. a page (e.g. in a book)

   ei bok på 300 sider

   a book of 300 pages

2. a side (various, though not all senses)

side

1. definite singular of sid
2. plural of sid

• “side” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• deis, desi-, dise, seid

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.de/

From the adjective sīd.

sīde

2. widely

From Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ, whence also Old High German sīta.

sīde f

2. side

Weak:

• Middle English: side, zide (Kent)
  • English: side
  • Scots: side, syde
  • Yola: zeide

Borrowed from Late Latin sēta, whence also Old High German sīda (“silk”).

sīde f (nominative plural sīdan)

2. silk

• seolc

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʲiðʲe/

side

1. inflection of suide:
   1. nominative/accusative singular masculine unstressed
   2. genitive singular feminine unstressed

Cognate with Sahu sidete (“sail, to sail”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.de/

side

1. a sail

side

1. (intransitive) to sail

• sidi

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

From Old Frisian sīde, from Proto-Germanic *sīdǭ.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsidə/

side c (plural siden, diminutive sydsje)

1. side
2. page

• webside

• “side (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011