beside
prepositionadverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//bɪˈsaɪd//
- United States//bɪˈsaɪd//
- United States//biˈsaɪd//
- United States//bəˈsaɪd//
- //bɪˈsʌɪd//
Next to; at the side of.
preposition
- 1
Next to; at the side of.
A small table beside the bed
- 2
Not relevant to.
That is beside the point / beside the topic / beside the subject / beside the focus of this discussion.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:beside.
- 3
Besides; in addition to.
I'll need another dictionary beside this one.
Etymology
From Middle English beside, besiden, bisyde (also besides > besides), from Old English be sīdan, bī sīdan (“by the side (of), on the side (of)”). Compare Saterland Frisian biesiede (“aside”), German Low German bisied (“aside”), German beiseite (“aside, to one side”). Compare also Dutch terzijde (“aside”). By surface analysis, be- + side.
adverb
- 1
Otherwise; else; in addition; besides.
To all beside, as much an empty shade, An Eugene living, as a Caesar dead.
April 8 1805, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Orange Blossom" O how the honey tells the tale of its birthplace to the sense of sight and odour! and to how many minute and uneyeable insects beside!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Eternal form shall still divide The eternal soul from all beside; And I shall know him when we meet: […]