aisle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: īl
ipa: /aɪ̯l/
rhymes: -aɪl
homophone: I'll
homophone: isle
Forms: form: aisles
form: isle
Etymology: From Middle English ele, from Middle French aisle (“wing”) (Modern French aile), from Latin āla (whence English ala). Further from Latin axis (whence English axis, atelier). Via Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱs- cognate with English axle, Ancient Greek ἄξων (áxōn) (whence English axo-, axon).
Senses: examples: text: Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.
ref: 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
text: In one of the aisles there was an elaborately carved confessional box and I recognised the village priest in his heavy mountain boots and black cassock as he entered it and drew the dark velvet curtains behind him.
ref: 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 13, in Crime out of Mind:
glosses: A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers.
examples: text: But the design of the '730s' wasn't just about the seating formation. The Metro-style walkthrough interior was chosen because it is much more spacious than the '323s', where the interconnecting doors between carriages, narrow central aisle, and cramped areas by the passenger doors had been deemed particularly constraining.
ref: 2025 April 16, Pip Dunn, “The future is orange....”, in RAIL, number 1033, page 53:
glosses: A clear path/passage through rows of seating.
glosses: A clear corridor in a supermarket with shelves on both sides containing goods for sale.
examples: text: It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.
ref: 1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:
glosses: Any path through an otherwise obstructed space.
examples: text: Do you want to seat window or aisle?
topics: transport
glosses: Seat in public transport, such as a plane, train or bus, that's beside the aisle.
topics: government
politics
glosses: An idiomatic divide between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, who are said to be on two sides of the aisle.
examples: text: You ask her if she loves you, she answers, "I do" / Your heart starts glowing inside / And then you will know she is just for you / While each step, draws you closer to the aisle
ref: 1957, The Five Satins, “To the Aisle”:
glosses: The path of a wedding procession in a church or other venue; (by extension, metonymic) marriage.
Synonyms: sense: obsolete spelling
word: isle
sense: seat beside an aisle
word: aisle seat
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: aisled
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: aisleless
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: aisle seat
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: aisle sitter
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: aisleway
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: cleanup on aisle
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: cross aisle
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: cross the aisle
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: middle-aisle it
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: reach across the aisle
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: roll in the aisle
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: roll in the aisles
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: up the aisle
sense: Terms derived from aisle (noun)
word: walk down the aisle