Adjacent Words

Beside definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BESI'DE, prep. [be and side, by the side.]
1. At the side of a person or thing; near; as, sit down beside me, or beside the stream.
2. Over and above; distinct from.
Beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed. Luke 16.
3. On one side; out of the regular course or order; not according to, but not contrary.
It is beside my present business to enlarge upon this speculation.
4. Out of; in a state deviating from; as, to put one beside his patience. Hence,
5. With the reciprocal pronoun, beside one's self is out of the wits or senses; out of the order of reason, or of rational beings.
Paul, thou are beside thyself. Acts 26.

Merriam Webster's

I. preposition Etymology: Middle English, adverb & preposition, from Old English be s?dan at or to the side, from be at (from b?) + s?dan, dative & accusative of s?de side — more at by Date: 13th century 1. a. by the side of <walk beside me> b. in comparison with c. on a par with 2. besides 3. not relevant to <beside the point> II. adverb Date: 14th century 1. archaic nearby 2. archaic besides

Oxford Reference Dictionary

prep. 1 at the side of; near. 2 compared with. 3 irrelevant to (beside the point). Phrases and idioms: beside oneself overcome with worry, anger, etc. Etymology: OE be sidan (as BY, SIDE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beside Be*side", prep. [OE. biside, bisiden, bisides, prep. and adv., beside, besides; pref. be- by + side. Cf. Besides, and see Side, n.] 1. At the side of; on one side of. ``Beside him hung his bow.'' --Milton. 2. Aside from; out of the regular course or order of; in a state of deviation from; out of. [You] have done enough To put him quite beside his patience. --Shak. 3. Over and above; distinct from; in addition to. Note: [In this use besides is now commoner.] Wise and learned men beside those whose names are in the Christian records. --Addison. To be beside one's self, to be out of one's wits or senses. Paul, thou art beside thyself. --Acts xxvi. 24. Syn: Beside, Besides. Usage: These words, whether used as prepositions or adverbs, have been considered strictly synonymous, from an early period of our literature, and have been freely interchanged by our best writers. There is, however, a tendency, in present usage, to make the following distinction between them: 1. That beside be used only and always as a preposition, with the original meaning ``by the side of; '' as, to sit beside a fountain; or with the closely allied meaning ``aside from'', ``apart from'', or ``out of''; as, this is beside our present purpose; to be beside one's self with joy. The adverbial sense to be wholly transferred to the cognate word. 2. That besides, as a preposition, take the remaining sense ``in addition to'', as, besides all this; besides the considerations here offered. ``There was a famine in the land besides the first famine.'' --Gen. xxvi. 1. And that it also take the adverbial sense of ``moreover'', ``beyond'', etc., which had been divided between the words; as, besides, there are other considerations which belong to this case. The following passages may serve to illustrate this use of the words: Lovely Thais sits beside thee. --Dryden. Only be patient till we have appeased The multitude, beside themselves with fear. --Shak. It is beside my present business to enlarge on this speculation. --Locke. Besides this, there are persons in certain situations who are expected to be charitable. --Bp. Porteus. And, besides, the Moor May unfold me to him; there stand I in much peril. --Shak. That man that does not know those things which are of necessity for him to know is but an ignorant man, whatever he may know besides. --Tillotson. Note: See Moreover.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Besides Be*sides", Beside Be*side", adv. [OE. Same as beside, prep.; the ending -s is an adverbial one, prop. a genitive sign.] 1. On one side. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Shak. 2. More than that; over and above; not included in the number, or in what has been mentioned; moreover; in addition. The men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides ? --Gen. xix. 12. To all beside, as much an empty shade, An Eugene living, as a C[ae]sar dead. --Pope. Note: These sentences may be considered as elliptical.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Something that is beside something else is at the side of it or next to it. On the table beside an empty plate was a pile of books... I moved from behind my desk to sit beside her. PREP see also besides 2. If you are beside yourself with anger or excitement, you are extremely angry or excited. Cathy was beside herself with excitement. beside the point: see point PHRASE: v-link PHR, oft PHR with n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

be-sid': Near to, or close to (Ps 23:2). It is often used to refer to the mental state, to the derangement of the mind (existemi, Mr 3:21; Ac 26:24 the King James Version). Or it may refer to the condition of being out of the ordinary course of the life. A life consecrated to God and spent in the interest of humanity is so designated (2Co 5:13). It has the sense also of a state of being out of one's usual mind, but not of mental derangement, occasioned by something that causes amazement or ast onishment (Mr 5:42). Or it may refer to a state in which one is not conscious of present conditions, but is rapt in vision (Ac 10:10).

Besides is used in the sense of in addition to or that which is over and above what has been said or is possessed (Lu 16:26; see the American Revised Version, margin "in"; Philemon 1:19).

Jacob W. Kapp

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. prep. 1. Near, close to, at the side of, by the side of. 2. Aside from, out of the way of, out of the course of not according to. 3. Ou of, not in possession of. II. ad. See besides

Moby Thesaurus

abeam, above, abreast, additionally, again, agitated, all included, along by, alongside, also, altogether, among other things, and all, and also, and so, apart from, as compared with, as well, aside, aside from, au reste, away from, bar, barring, besides, beyond, but, by, by comparison with, close to, compared with, crazy, else, en plus, ex, except, except for, excepting, excluding, exclusive of, extra, farther, for lagniappe, further, furthermore, hard by, in addition, in apposition, in comparison with, in conjunction, in juxtaposition, inter alia, into the bargain, item, leaving out, let alone, likewise, mad, more, moreover, near, nearby, next to, nigh, off, omitting, on the side, on top of, opposite, outside of, over, over against, over and above, overwrought, plus, precluding, round, save, save and except, saving, similarly, taken with, than, then, therewith, to boot, too, unless, upset, with, without, yet