step aside

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

step aside (third-person singular simple present steps aside, present participle stepping aside, simple past and past participle stepped aside)

1. (intransitive) To move out of the way of somebody or something.

   I stepped aside to let her pass.

2. (intransitive) To make room for others as replacements by withdrawing from a position or service.

   Coordinate term: step down

3. (intransitive) To deviate from the right or proper path; to err or stray.
   • 18th c., Robert Burns, Address to the Unco Guid, or The Rigidly Righteous:

     To step aside is human.

4. (intransitive) To walk to a little distance; retire for the occasion.

• “step aside”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “step aside”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.