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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A part of a church divided laterally from the nave by a row of pillars or columns.
  2. n. A passageway between rows of seats, as in an auditorium or an airplane.
  3. n. A passageway for inside traffic, as in a department store, warehouse, or supermarket.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Properly, a lateral subdivision of a church, parallel to the nave, choir, or transept, from which it is divided by piers or columns, and often surmounted by a gallery. The term is also improperly applied to the central or main division: as, a three-aisled church, that is, a church with a nave and two aisles. It is also used to designate the alleys or divisions of other structures, such as mosques, Egyptian temples, theaters, public halls, etc. As popularly applied to churches in which the nave and aisles proper are filled with pews, and in general to modern places of assembly, aisle denotes merely a passageway giving access to the seats: as, the center aisle and side aisles. Sometimes written isle. See figure showing ground-plan of a cathedral, under cathedral.
  2. In heraldry, winged or having wings.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A wing of a building, notably in a church separated from the nave proper by piers.
  2. n. A clear path through rows of seating.
  3. n. A clear corridor in a supermarket with shelves on both sides containing goods for sale.
  4. n. Any path through an otherwise obstructed space.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. 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.
  2. n. Improperly used also for the have; -- as in the phrases, a church with three aisles, the middle aisle.
  3. n. Also (perhaps from confusion with alley), a passage into which the pews of a church open.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. passageway between seating areas as in an auditorium or passenger vehicle or between areas of shelves of goods as in stores
  2. n. a long narrow passage (as in a cave or woods)
  3. n. part of a church divided laterally from the nave proper by rows of pillars or columns

Etymologies

  1. Middle French aisle (Modern French aile) from Latin ala. (Wiktionary)
  2. Alteration (influenced by isle and French aile, wing) of Middle English ele, from Old French, wing of a building, from Latin āla. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • qroqqa Today's aisle/isle distinction is recent, and aisle owes its silent S to isle. Although ultimately from Latin ala "wing", the church word was from about 1600 confused with or merged with isle, and often so spelt. Some time in the 1700s the hybrid spelling aisle came into use, and seems to have become established by about 1800.

    In this same time period its use was extended from the side passages, the 'wings', to the central passage, the nave. Some complain that couples walking up the aisle are really walking up the nave, but the usage is long established now. Jan 24, 2011

  • Dan337

    An aisle is a narrow passageway, especially in a church or store; an isle is an island.
    Paul Brians. “Aisle/Isle”. Common Errors in English Usage
    Jan 23, 2011

  • milosrdenstvi Another pronunciation that is just unfair. See choir. Jan 9, 2011

  • chained_bear But not quite with I'll? Apr 30, 2010

  • dario homophone with isle Apr 30, 2010

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‘aisle’ has been looked up 5819 times, added to 31 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 5.