alongsideadv.prep.
/əˈlɒŋsʌɪd/, /əˌlɒŋˈsʌɪd/, U.S. /əˈˌlɔŋˈsaɪd/, /əˈˌlɑŋˈsaɪd/ A. adv.
1. Nautical. Close to the side of another vessel; side by side with another vessel. Later also: secured to a quay, wharf, etc. Frequently with of.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > side(s) of vessel > [adverb] > close to side of ship
aboarda1393
along-board1548
alongside1704
1704 R. Park Defensive War by Sea iv. xiv. 154 Should the Enemy run along Side of him.
1707 London Gaz. mmmmccclxxx/2 The Enemy would not come up a long Side.
1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere iii, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 19 The naked Hulk alongside came.
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple II. ix. 145 I thought, Mr. Simple, that you knew by this time how to bring a boat alongside.
1838 Chrons. of Sea 9 June 213/2 Davis coming up alongside of her, the Dutchmen gave the first fire.
1851 W. H. Dixon W. Penn v. 173 The boatmen..used their oars as if they had been ordered to come alongside.
1906 Wreck of Steamer Valencia v. 29 Meantime, the Salvor, a wrecking vessel of Canadian registry, had also come up alongside of the Queen.
1997 Shetland Times 21 Nov. 4/3 Berths were doubled up as boats sought a place out of the high seas and on Wednesday afternoon 90 vessels were alongside.
2. gen. Close by the side of a person or thing; side by side with something; parallel to something. Frequently with of.In quot. 1822 in figurative context.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > quality of having sides or being a side > [adverb] > along the side or by the side
besidec1275
besidesc1275
sidelong1592
alongside1740
1740 S. Richardson Pamela II. 188 He would chine the Man, that was his Word, who offer'd to touch his Lady; and so he ran along-side of me.
1762 T. Smollett Adventures Sir Launcelot Greaves II. xvii. 89 He ordered the waiter..to..bring along-side a short allowance of brandy or grog.
1771 C. Douglas in Philos. Trans. 1770 (Royal Soc.) 60 41 A case, filled with water from along-side.
1822 T. Jefferson Writings (1830) IV. 347 A new authority, marching independently along-side of the government.
1855 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 8 Sept. in Eng. Notebks. (1997) I. iii. 309 Along side of a sheet of water.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxiii. 284 I see a wagon coming..and it stopped alongside.
a1941 V. Woolf Nurse Lugton's Golden Thimble (1966) 8 The ostrich, the mandrill..and the pelicans waddled and waded alongside.
1986 R. Narayan Talkative Man 23 He..drew up alongside.
1999 City Paper (Baltimore) 6 Jan. 16/4 Tomás and a handful of other kids hustle up alongside of us.
3. figurative and in extended use.
a. With of. Together with; at the same time as; in coexistence with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > accompaniment > [adverb] > together with
in conjunction with1745
alongside1793
1793 T. Jefferson Let. 5 May in Papers (1992) XXV. 660 This put along side of his present Anglomany would decide the voice of the yeomanry.
1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 30 33 The pot-wallopers of Westminster..are to vote alongside of the £10 householders of the Tower Hamlets.
1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxiv. 385 Alongside of reliefs and wardships, the Danegeld was duly levied.
1938 J. W. Allen Eng. Polit. Thought I. iii. ii. 206 Then, too, alongside of the Calvinist Presbyterian ideal,..there developed a rival idealism.
2000 R. T. Lakoff Lang. War iii. 100 Alongside of ‘physically challenged,’ the neocons offered ‘follically challenged’..and ‘morally challenged’.
b. Originally and chiefly U.S. With of. In comparison with, compared with. Now rare (but cf. sense B. 3b, which is now the usual construction).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > comparison > [adverb]
at or in regardc1450
in comparison1470
in respect1532
comparatively1597
by comparison1807
alongside1831
comparingly1882
1831 H. J. Finn Amer. Comic Ann. 139 Simon was not the most accomplished waiter in the world, and would have stood a poor chance along side of a French garçon.
1870 J. G. Austin Shadow of Moloch Mountain xxxvii. 100 Well, now, doctor, I am an ignorant sort of man alongside of you.
1913 H. S. Truman Let. 10 Mar. in Dear Bess (1998) 118 A highwayman is a gentleman alongside of a preacher or detective.
1941 Amer. Mus. Lover 8 129/1 The recordings stand up very well alongside of present-day efforts.
4. U.S. With of. With reference to a blow, esp. to a person's head: on the side of.
ΚΠ
1835 N.-Y. Mirror 21 Mar. 303/3 Wasn't that a sweet clip alongside of his head.
1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee 20 He laid me out with a crusher alongside of the head.
1909 Elgin (Iowa) Echo 14 Jan. Give me a slap alongside of the head, good and hard.
1986 R. J. Conley Back to Malachi 47 Jerry's fist shot out real fast and caught Henry alongside of the head.
2008 D. J. Parker More than Dust in Wind x. 145 If somebody else should smack her alongside of the head, is it OK if I rejoice just a little?
B. prep.
1. Originally Nautical. In a position parallel to; side by side with; close to the side of; next to, beside.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > quality of having sides or being a side > on the side of [preposition] > along or by the side of
alongeOE
alongstc1180
besidesc1200
besidec1275
aboard1449
longs1488
sidelong1577
aside?1615
alongside1704
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > side(s) of vessel > [preposition] > close to side
alongside1704
1704 R. Park Defensive War by Sea i. xxvi. 21 If a Privateer be either along Side or thwart your Fore-foot.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §100 A boat..lying alongside the rock.
1802 W. Paley Nat. Theol. viii. 102 The fore-arm..consists of two bones, lying along-side each other, but touching only towards the ends.
1866 G. MacDonald Ann. Quiet Neighbourhood xxvi. 448 She only bowed and kept alongside her companion.
1875 F. T. Buckland Log-bk. Fisherman 90 Hauled up alongside a barge.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1192 The appearance of a stoma may be quite well visualized by thinking of two sausages lying alongside each other.
2001 J. Waterman Arctic Crossing ii. 188 Herds of muskox growl..alongside my tent.
2. Originally and chiefly U.S. With reference to a blow: = sense A. 4.
ΚΠ
1856 W. G. Crippen Green Peas, picked from Invisible Green, Esq. iii. 304 Nat, however, was too sleepy to wake up, and Bob observing it, gave him a ‘clew’ alongside the head.
1890 Sandusky (Ohio) Daily Reg. 13 Aug. With lightning like rapidity the hands unfolded, and the unshaven hackdriver received a rebuff alongside the jaw.
1929 Z. Grey in Collier's 12 Oct. 72/1 Traft gave him a terrific slap alongside the face.
1995 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 23 May 1 d They wouldn't notice a perfect size 6 if she walked up and slapped them up alongside the head.
3. figurative and in extended use.
a. Together with; at the same time as; in parallel with. Cf. sense A. 3a.
ΚΠ
1864 Daily Tel. 3 May The finest Chateau Lafitte was introduced alongside the most rasping Gladstonian.
1871 J. Mackenzie Ten Years North of Orange River v. 82 The littleness of one man's life when viewed alongside any of God's great processes.
1917 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 112 ii. 166 Alongside the science of stereochemistry is developing a stereophysics.
1954 B. North & R. North tr. M. Duverger Polit. Parties ii. i. 222 The Socialist party was taking up a position alongside the two ‘bourgeois’ parties.
1989 Bookseller 25 Aug. 635/2 Glasgow..offers all the benefits of city life..alongside reasonably priced housing.
1994 Cambr. Jrnl. Educ. 24 68 Having the articled teachers working alongside them..had led to the introduction of ‘new perspectives’.
2010 Church Times 17 Sept. 22/5 Alongside this may come the challenge of becoming a step-grandparent, where a son's or daughter's subsequent relationships bring new children into the equation.
b. Originally and chiefly U.S. In comparison with, compared with; = beside prep. 1d(b). Cf. sense A. 3b.
ΚΠ
1916 H. L. Smith Other People's Business xix. 287 ‘My advice is to hold on to your stock.’.. ‘Ten per cent. looks pretty well alongside the savings bank, I'll admit.’
1953 Racine (Wisconsin) Jrnl.-Times 27 July 1 Along side her [sc. the mother of a dead soldier], the one who grumbles about the high cost of war in dollars and cents seems pretty cheap, doesn't he?
1993 J. Clauss Best of Argonauts viii. 177 Jason's passivity looks bad alongside Heracles' impressive dynamism.
2010 tr. G. Muhlmann Journalism for Democracy (2011) i. 37 Alongside this, the crisis of journalism that Public Journalism claimed to support..seems pretty bland.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adv.prep.1704