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/ˈsaɪdl/ · verb
(ambitransitive, also figuratively) To (cause something to) move sideways..
[F]rom the circle of delighted auditors listening to the gentillesses of the pink cockatoo, who was sidling on his stand in the sunshine, a whole party of the Beresfords caught sight of me, and in a minute I was surrounded; [...]
The mare never moved; but after immense weight had been placed on both, the horse began to sidle, and before the last bag could be put on him, he sunk on his knees; it was put on the mare, and she bore it, never moving her posture until she was unloaded.
You could drive a band of hosses up the steepest kind of hill but nobody that I ever knowed could drive a bunch straight down (that goes with cows, too)—they'd sidle it every time.
There was one little prim old lady, of very smiling and good-humoured appearance, who came sidling up to me from the end of a long passage, [...]
A small lad, with a large head and faded yellow hair, sidles up to you, and says something about "Ing'n work," or "Cur'osities," or "Cam'ra 'bscura," or "Guide." You give some sharp, quick answer; the small boy collapses and vanishes.
A sharper sidleth up to him, / "Why bettest thou not?" saith he. / For a moment's space the stranger's face / Was a wondrous thing to see.
One day he sidles up to a group, listens to the conversation for a moment, and actually puts in a remark. "I beg your pardon!" says one of the girls politely who has not heard his modest effort at conversation. For a moment Alexander remains rooted to the ground, he stammers out something unintelligible, the whole group turns and looks at him; this completes his confusion, he turns and sidles back to his seat, his face as hot as can be, and remains lost in a Latin grammer^([sic – meaning grammar]) for at least half an hour.
As the moon sidles up / Must she sidle up, / As trips the scared moon / Away must she trip, [...]
Use sidle when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Sidle means (ambitransitive, also figuratively) To (cause something to) move sideways..
Common synonyms include sashay.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
[F]rom the circle of delighted auditors listening to the gentillesses of the pink cockatoo, who was sidling on his stand in the sunshine, a whole party of the Beresfords caught sight of me, and in a minute I was surrounded; [...]
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