side door
- noun
- The side door leads to a private garden behind the house.
Oh, man, we're we're like going in this side door here.
- Oh, man, we're we're like going in this side door here.
- And as soon as the movie was over, we went out through the side door.
- I can just take them out the side door here, Chuck them out, and it's just been so handy.
- You looked out through the chin bubble to the side door.
Examples
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Bring him in through the side door.
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Martha, open the side door for me, please.
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Take him and walk out the side door now.
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Now, open up the side door, and let 'em all go.
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Guys, I found a side door.
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I'm coming in the side door.
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So she decides to go around to the side door.
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If you come over to the side door, I'm sure she'd be glad to see you.
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When the side door to the building was unlocked, I took a deep breath.
Academic text (2009) -
I sneaked out the side door and caught the metro down at the corner.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
An outside door at the side of a building used instead of the main door
How Important
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and literally derived from combining 'side' (position at the side) with 'door' (an entry), describing a door located on the side of a building. This is a straightforward, compositional noun phrase common across languages and English compounding patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.
Etymology
Side door is simply a door on the side of a building that people used as another way in or out. People often used it to enter quietly, for deliveries, or to avoid the busy front door, so the phrase now means 'an entrance or exit other than the main door'.