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Glite Dictionary
to sidle past

to sidle past

1 7.9
To move sideways past someone quietly without being noticed
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈsaɪdəl pæst/
translation icon : pasar de lado
  • She sidled past the crowd to avoid drawing attention to herself.

Examples

  • Rick went first, not because it was his Apollo or because he was in any way more deserving, but for the same reason that Nell Armstrong went first on Apollo 11: because in their bulky spacesuits it was too difficult for the person on the right to sidle past the person on the left in order to reach the door.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • "Afternoon," I say, sidling past the ugly iron bed.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The Phantom sidled past the valet's corpse and into the empty elevator shaft.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Pulling up his hood, Shorn descended a flight of stairs, pushed into a basement recreation hall, and sidled past the dull-eyed men at the mechanical games.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • He decided to sidle past his friends so he wouldn't interrupt their game.

  • As the cat sidled past the sleeping dog, it tried not to make a sound.

Synonyms

to creep
vsto sidle past
155 2.5

To move slowly and quietly with the body low to the ground

is about passing beside someone sideways rather than low crawling movements
to skulk
vsto sidle past
20 7.7

To move or act quietly to avoid being noticed

is about moving sideways past someone while avoiding attention
to pass by
vsto sidle past
17 3.0

Go past without being noticed or taken

is an action of moving sideways past something to avoid drawing attention
to slink
vsto sidle past
16 6.7

To move quietly and carefully to avoid being seen

is similar but focuses on passing sideways past someone or something
to slip by
vsto sidle past
11 3.8

To go past quickly without anyone noticing, as with time or chances

is slow and sideways, cautious rather than quick and unnoticed
to sidle
vsto sidle past
5 8.1

To move slowly and quietly to the side to avoid being noticed

is specifically about moving sideways past someone or something to avoid attention
to brush by
vsto sidle past
3 5.2

To move past a person or thing very close without stopping

is about moving cautiously sideways to avoid being noticed rather than close contact
to pussyfoot
vsto sidle past
  • Informal
8.9

To move quietly and carefully to avoid being noticed

is the same movement but specifically sideways past someone or something

How Stealthy

to sneak in
  • Informal
75 3.8
to sidle past
1 7.9
to creep
155 2.5

Surface Forms

sidle past infinitive
sidled past past
sidled past past participle
siding past present participle
sidles past third person singular

Morphology

sidle + past

The meaning 'to move sideways past someone or something stealthily' is directly composed from 'sidle' (to walk sideways to avoid attention) plus 'past' (indicating motion by/alongside). This is a straightforward motion-verb + preposition construction common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Sidle past comes from the picture of someone moving quietly to the side: sidle means to move sideways and past means by something, like a cat slipping along a wall to get by without being noticed. So it means 'to move sideways past something or someone in a careful, quiet way'.