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sidle
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
sidle
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
along
▪ There was a figure there, sidling along stealthily with its back against one wall.
▪ She sidled along the drive after her husband and up to the front door.
▪ He sidled along towards the panels where, with any luck, Angalo was hiding.
up
▪ So I sidled up, slipped my arm around him and gave him a kiss.
▪ While I did so, the Newspaper Boy sidled up to our table.
▪ A., 4-H, even Boy Scouts sidle up to a few doors and whisper a carol or two.
▪ Finally I sidle up to her and ask straight out.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At dawn, they sidle back under the sea's edge.
▪ Finally I sidle up to her and ask straight out.
▪ It was sidling towards the edge of the table.
▪ She suspects me of a form of vanity in sidling up to the existential questions.
▪ The road led nearly to the cliff, and then sidled right.
▪ Washington hurried dutifully to her side as befitted his lover's status, then remembered his invidious position and sidled away again.
▪ While I did so, the Newspaper Boy sidled up to our table.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sidle

Sidle \Si"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sidled; p. pr. & vb. n. Sidling.] [From Side.] To go or move with one side foremost; to move sidewise; as, to sidle through a crowd or narrow opening.
--Swift.

He . . . then sidled close to the astonished girl.
--Sir W. Scott.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
sidle

"to move or go sideways," 1690s, back-formation from obsolete Middle English sidlyng (adv.) "obliquely, sideways; aslant; laterally" (early 14c., perhaps in Old English), from side (n.) + adverbial suffix -ling; altered on analogy of verbs ending in -le. Related: Sidled; sidling. Old English had sidlingweg (n.) "sidelong-way, oblique road."

Wiktionary
sidle

n. 1 A sideways movement. 2 A furtive advance. vb. 1 To move sideways. 2 To advance in a furtive, coy or unobtrusive manner.

WordNet
sidle
  1. v. move unobtrusively or furtively; "The young man began to sidle near the pretty girl sitting on the log"

  2. move sideways [syn: sashay]

Usage examples of "sidle".

A rotund little man immediately sidled up to Brett, wiping his hands on a none too clean apron.

Allin sidle past Messire as the Sieur and his brothers advanced in matching step.

She was looking flushed and happy as she sidled down the bench on which the crucibles were ranged, jotting down the time from the lab clock and temperatures from the thermocouple pyrometers plugged into each sample.

She struck Yellowjacket with her quirt and sent him sidling past the wagon and the tricky Caroline, too stubborn to answer her dad when he called after her that she had better ride behind the load.

He went and stood near the door, and Tallent sidled over and stood beside him to tell him what I might say.

By unspoken mutual consent, they sidled quickly away from the kitten-tree and around the nearest unpeopled corner.

His eyes found Warth, who was sidling back and forth in great excitement and watching him with bright, knowing eyes.

A bandy child, asquat on the doorstep with a paper shuttlecock, crawls sidling after her in spurts, clutches her skirt, scrambles up.

The Ion of Avaric turned his head and eyed the young man sidelong, sidling.

She sidled toward the pair of scouts, a jungle goddess awoken from a slumber.

Sidling a wild glance at the menacing sea, Miss Daventry clung to the gunwale with the tenacity of a squid, then lunged toward the belowdecks ladderway.

The old midwife made signs with her hands, and her husband rose too and sidled towards the door, where his billhook was propped.

They were taking their time, the pigs, swigging claret in La Maison Bordelaise while he was sidling round pavements with a hamburger.

She sidled up to Brummel, and the two of them stood there looking proudly at Marshall and Bernice, as if they were trophies.

Wrenching her gaze from the glitter, Diane concentrated on a plate of turtle soup, but sidled a nod to Cardiff, between spoonfuls.