Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Aisle

Aisle

,
Noun.
[OF.
ele
, F.
aile
, wing, wing of a building, L.
ala
, contr. fr.
axilla
.]
(Arch.)
(a)
A lateral division of a building, separated from the middle part, called the nave, by a row of columns or piers, which support the roof or an upper wall containing windows, called the clearstory wall.
(b)
Improperly used also for the have; – as in the phrases, a church with three aisles, the middle aisle.
(c)
Also (perhaps from confusion with alley), a passage into which the pews of a church open.

Webster 1828 Edition


Aisle

AISLE

, or AILE,
Noun.
Pronounced Ile. [L. ala.]
The wing of a quire; a walk in a church.

Definition 2024


aisle

aisle

See also: aísle, aîle, and aislé

English

Noun

aisle (plural aisles)

  1. A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers.
    • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict:
      Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.
    • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 13, in Crime out of Mind:
      In one of the aisles there was an elaborately carved confessional box and I recognised the village priest in his heavy mountain boots and black cassock as he entered it and drew the dark velvet curtains behind him.
  2. A clear path through rows of seating.
  3. A clear corridor in a supermarket with shelves on both sides containing goods for sale.
  4. Any path through an otherwise obstructed space.

Synonyms

  • (path senses): isle

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams


French

Noun

aisle f (plural aisles)

  1. Obsolete form of aile.

Irish

Etymology 1

Noun

aisle f

  1. Alternative form of aisling (vision; vision poem)

Verb

aisle

  1. Alternative form of aisling (see in dream or vision)

Etymology 2

Noun

aisle f

  1. genitive singular of aisil
  2. plural of aisil

Etymology 3

Noun

aisle f

  1. genitive singular of aiseal
  2. plural of aiseal

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Eclipsis with h-prothesis with t-prothesis
aisle n-aisle haisle t-aisle
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References


Middle French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old French aile, from Latin ala with the addition of an unetymological s

Noun

aisle f (plural aisles)

  1. wing (anatomical structure of flying animals)

Descendants