Meanings
- figurativelynot comparablePacked tightly into a small space.
David Hamilton offered to share his bunk with me, and we slept head to feet, sardinewise.
1967, Edmund Wilson, A Prelude, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, page 1811 more example
And what added so much to the charm of this delightful concert was that the guests were not packed together sardinewise, as they are at most concerts; they were comparatively few and well chosen, and could get up and walk about and talk to their friends between the pieces […]
1894, George Du Maurier, Trilby, New York: Harper, Part 5, p. 250
Origin
From sardine + -wise, from the way that those fish are tinned.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
sardinewise. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sardinewise
“sardinewise.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sardinewise. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sardinewise,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sardinewise.
Source: sardinewise on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.