Meanings
- idiomaticA place where things are stored or reserved, as in
He put some money to one side.
1 more example
He put next year's reserved seed on one side.
- idiomaticA direct, somewhat impolite demand to ask someone to move out of the way.
“This is no time for sympathy,” I said. “Now one side or flipper off — I gotta go to work.”
1952, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Make Mine Mars2 more examples
[…] sign hung from the bronze knob, and it stated without equivocation that the Britannic Museum was "closed for repairs." But the Inspector was made of stern stuff. He closed his right hand and with the resulting fist pounded formidably on the bronze. […] out popped the gargoylish head of a bulb-nosed old man. "Hey!" snapped this apparition. "Can't you read English?" "One side, brother," said the Inspector cheerfully. "We're in a hurry." The doorman did not budge […]
1933, Barnaby Ross, Drury Lane's Last Case, March 1946 republication as by Ellery Queen, Little, Brown, page 45"I'm late now, Fatty. C'mon. One side," Zooey said. A Philadelphia highboy had been moved out into the hall, and, together with Mrs. Glass's person, it blocked Zooey's passage.
1957, J. D. Salinger, Zooey
Origin
Probably short for "move to one side", that is to one side of a passageway.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
one side. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/one%20side
“one side.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/one%20side. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “one side,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/one%20side.
Source: one side on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.