sidewalkn.
/ˈsʌɪdwɔːk/, U.S. /ˈsaɪdˌwɔk/, /ˈsaɪdˌwɑk/ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > going on foot > [noun] > walking for exercise or recreation > an act of > short
turn1581
sidewalk1598
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Scorribanda, a sidewalke, about, a walke, a turne, a turne and away.
2. A minor path or way, esp. one running parallel to a main or central one. Also in figurative contexts. Now rare.Recorded earliest in attributive use.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path > in a garden or pleasure-ground > parallel to a central
sidewalk1605
counter-walk1664
1605 in W. M. Metcalfe Charters & Documents Burgh of Paisley (1902) 279 The utter sydewalk nuik of the bakehous.
1674 J. Dryden & W. Davenant Shakespeare's Tempest (new ed.) i. ii. 5 'Tis compos'd of three Walks of Cypress-trees, each Side-walk leads to a Cave... The Middle-Walk is of a great depth.
1718 S. Switzer Ichnographia Rustica II. 197 A few of these Walks are absolutely necessary, in Respect to the Grandeur..of a Situation, as the Middle and Side Walk.
1770 Constantia 246 She..led me thro' a Side Walk of the Garden to where the Gardener was at Work.
1866 Sat. Rev. 22 Dec. 769/2 There are various side-walks branching out of this great high-way of wrong and misery.
1929 R. Blomfield Byways viii. 138 It appears..that the statues which line the side-walks of the garden were also gilt.
3. A paved footpath alongside a street or road, usually slightly raised above the level of the road surface. Now chiefly North American.In Great Britain and Ireland and in most other English-speaking territories outside North America the usual term is pavement.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > path or place for walking > [noun] > foot(-)path > by side of street or road
plainstones1611
flanker1682
side pavement1685
footwalk1701
sideway1738
sidewalk1739
pavement1743
banquette1772
footpath1776
trottoir1789
walkway1792
parapet1795
causeway1796
flag-way1800
flags1801
pave1835
flagstone1840
flagging1851
walk1913
pedway1965
1739 C. Labelye Short Acct. Piers Westm. Bridge 69 The Side-walks for the Foot-passengers are..raised about a Foot above the Carriage-way.
1815 J. Adams Wks. (1856) X. 125 Walking in the streets of Philadelphia, I met, on the opposite sidewalk, Colonel Joseph Lyman.
1837 N. Hawthorne Twice-told Tales ii The side walks of the street..are immediately thronged with two long lines of people.
1891 G. Meredith Let. 27 May (1970) II. 1030 The way to propitiate them [sc. reviewers] is to keep along the side-walks, out of the sun.
1913 Atlanta Constit. 18 Oct. 6/5 This afternoon a peanut parcher..exploded on Broad street while a busy crowd was on the sidewalk near it.
1951 R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse ii. 27 The sidewalk..was still unpaved in those days.
1971 Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg) 27 Mar. 6/4 Wait on the sidewalk after getting off a bus.
2006 Time Out N.Y. 25 May 75/1 Williamsburg has practically become a parody of itself, with its sidewalks full of dudes in pajama bottoms and ironic T-shirts.
Compounds
C1. General attributive (in sense 3), as sidewalk cafe, sidewalk dealer, sidewalk tree, etc.
ΚΠ
1846 Laws State of Mississippi lxxvii. 265 To assess and collect a special tax for defraying the costs or expenses incurred for side-walk paving.
1856 H. B. Stowe Dred I. 24 She has..a taste for side-walk flirtation.
1865 Illinois Teacher Aug. 278 The kinds most extensively cultivated are the maple and elm... Nearly one-half have been planted as sidewalk trees, in double rows.
1870 Scribner's Monthly Dec. 114/1 The sidewalk dealers..find extortion a losing game.
1889 Syracuse (N.Y.) Standard 1 Dec. 2/5 Everybody, save the English and Americans, takes kindly to the French style of drinking. Sidewalk cafes are crowded day and night.
1921 Concrete 19 195/2 Coal hole covers are probably the most prolific source of sidewalk casualties.
1938 Life 5 Dec. 38/1 In his next picture..he plays a busker, a sidewalk comedian who entertains theater queues.
1959 T. Griffith Waist-high Culture (1960) ix. 115 Tehran, its streets vivid with sidewalk hawkers, the flow of filth in the jubes.
1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 15 Feb. a6/1 The 43-year-old writer..had a sidewalk interview with newsmen.
1989 C. Long Life after City iv. 40 Stop to listen to the repertoire of the adolescent sidewalk saxophonist.
2013 J. Farmer Trees in Pardise iv. vii. 382 A neighborhood group pledged in writing to take care of sidewalk trees.
C2.
sidewalk artist n. chiefly North American (a) a person who draws pictures with coloured chalks, crayons, etc., on the surface of a sidewalk to earn money from passers-by; (b) an artist who creates or sells his or her work in the street or other public space, esp. one producing portraits or caricatures of passers-by.Cf. pavement artist n. 1.
ΚΠ
1872 World (N.Y.) 9 Sept. 8/6 A sidewalk artist is depicting in colored chalks on the flagstones a series of cartoons.
1876 Boston Post 24 Oct. Master Carling, the wonderful sidewalk artist.., caricatures with great rapidity and fidelity to the original.
1911 Current Lit. Dec. 687/1 Reports from London say that one of the sidewalk artists..is nightly producing Mona Lisa on the pavement of Piccadilly.
1932 N.Y. Times 31 May 22/7 (heading) Sidewalk artists sell 264/ paintings. Washington Sq. thronged as 50-cent portraits are drawn on the spot.
1999 G. Sparrow Carbon 12 (caption) This sidewalk artist is using charcoal. Sadly, his picture will be washed away by the next shower of rain.
2007 R. McClanahan My First Five Husbands i. 24 We..walked through Greenwich Village (I still have the sketch of me made by a sidewalk artist).
sidewalk chalk n. U.S. chalk used for drawing on sidewalks and similar surfaces, typically produced in thick sticks; also (and in earliest use) attributive, esp. as sidewalk chalk artist.
ΚΠ
1895 World (N.Y.) 31 Oct. 7/4 (headline) Died on a London street. Stocquelin, sidewalk chalk artist.
1975 B. Minkin Horses of Achilles 12 Where urchins sketch, Layered sidewalk chalk Collects like constellations At my feet.
2014 H. Homer & R. Miller 101 Kids Activities 117 With sidewalk chalk create a grid six squares across and six squares down.
sidewalk sale n. U.S. a sale in which a retailer displays reduced goods outside on a sidewalk, in order to attract passers-by; (more generally) any outdoor sale held on a sidewalk.
ΚΠ
1894 Hamilton (Ohio) Daily Democrat 10 Sept. 4/1 (advt.) The grand sidewalk sale given by us last Saturday was a success all over.
1959 G. E. C. Powell Quiet Side Europe 184 I walked down Boul' Mich', and saw a sidewalk sale of paintings held by students.
2014 L. Beatty His Small-town Family 75 I need those little colored sticky dots. I'm pricing items for the sidewalk sale.
sidewalk superintendent n. chiefly North American (a) a local official appointed to keep order on or oversee the maintenance of sidewalks; (b) humorous an onlooker who watches and gives unsolicited advice at building sites, road repairs, etc. (now the usual sense).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > disinclination to act or listlessness > sloth or laziness > [noun] > lazy person > an idler or loafer > in specific place
market beaterc1405
market dasher1440
market runner?c1475
benchera1533
bench-whistler1542
bench-babbler1549
Paul's man1616
Paul's-walker1658
benchwarmer1662
round-towner1775
wharf-rat1823
boulevardier1879
sidewalk superintendent1879
bar-loafer1889
stoepsitter1934
beach bum1962
1879 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Daily Sentinel 31 Jan. 5/2 It was concluded to maintain a City Comptroller, and..to establish a sidewalk superintendent.
1921 Successful Methods May 10/2 The general view..shows clearly the network of old walls that are being removed. The usual crowd of sidewalk superintendents helps to fill up the foreground.
1940 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Mar. 20/7 The walk..is covered so that the sidewalk superintendents can meet in rainy weather.
1970 R. P. Warren Incarnations 46 Sidewalk superintendents turn now From their duties and at you stare.
1994 Bismarck (N. Dakota) (Nexis) 6 Apr. The letters state sidewalk work must be done in accordance with city specifications and with approval of the city's engineer or sidewalk superintendent.
2012 R. D. Woodson Asbestos Detection, Abatement & Inspection Procedures v. 50 What provisions are made for crowd control? Can sidewalk superintendents be kept at a safe distance from the work site?
sidewalk surfer n. slang (originally U.S.; now somewhat dated or humorous) a skateboarder.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > skateboarding > [noun] > skateboarder
slalomist1956
sidewalk surfer1964
skateboarder1964
skater1977
skatepunk1985
1964 Life 5 June 89 (heading) Here come the sidewalk surfers.
1976 A. Cassorla Skateboarder's Bible 9 Weird-wheeling sidewalk surfers can be seen whipping over the blacktop from Reno to Rio de Janeiro.
2002 Independent (Nexis) 10 Aug. (Features section) 12 The London Arena will be packed..as the world's finest sidewalk surfers roll in for the World Sk8 Masters competition.
sidewalk surfing n. slang (originally U.S.; now somewhat dated or humorous) the action or practice of riding on a skateboard.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > skateboarding > [noun]
sidewalk surfing1963
skateboarding1964
1963 Press-Telegram (Long Beach, Calif.) 29 May a13/2 (advt.) Roller Derby skate board... For sidewalk surfing.
1965 National Observer (U.S.) 5 Apr. 12/1 Remember the hula hoop? The popularity attained by that hip-swinging fad in the late 1950s is fast being dwarfed by a new teen-age craze known as sidewalk surfing or skateboarding.
2009 Observer (Nexis) 1 Feb. (TV & Radio section) 28 The sequel to Electronic Arts' sublime sidewalk surfing title [i.e. a skateboarding game] is finally with us.
sidewalk skate n. chiefly North American (now historical) a roller skate.
ΚΠ
1869 Sci. Amer. 13 Nov. 316/3 An improved parlor and sidewalk skate, which shall be so constructed and arranged as to run with little friction and to pass over obstructions, [etc.].
1977 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 509/1 Junior rink-style sidewalk skates.
2012 B. Bond Front Porch Sketches 30 Sidewalk skates were fun and many children had them.
sidewalk song n. chiefly North American a song or chant performed by children playing in the street.
ΚΠ
1883 Cent. Mag. Oct. 929/2 Little sermons in rhyme that are sure to catch the ear and to become hackneyed as a sidewalk song.
1962 Billboard 29 Dec. 12/4 She shows what she means with a wide range of sorrowful work songs, joyous children's sidewalk songs and spirituals.
2007 D. Carr in E. Weisbard Listen Again xviii. 275 These melancholic, patriotic sidewalk songs continued to be sung through the 1950s and 1960s.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
sidewalkv.
/ˈsʌɪdwɔːk/, U.S. /ˈsaɪdˌwɔk/, /ˈsaɪdˌwɑk/ North American.
transitive. To provide with a sidewalk or sidewalks.
ΚΠ
1861 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 19 Nov. Protests were received..against carrying out the order for planking and ‘sidewalking’ that piece of street.
1893 Home Missionary Mar. 543 Miles of streets have been opened, graded, planked, and sidewalked.
1916 Good Roads 23 Sept. 8 Contract for grading, curbing, guttering, paving with concrete and sidewalking Harvard Blvd.
2008 Nelson (Brit. Columbia) Daily News (Nexis) 21 Aug. 2 There is a movement afoot to have some of the residential blocks near Baker Street sidewalked with cement this fall.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1598
v.1861