be out of the way

“We found a convenient harbor for our boat on the opposite or east shore, still in Hooksett, at the mouth of a small brook which emptied into the Merrimack, where it would be out of the way of any passing boat in the night, -- for they commonly hug the shore if bound up stream, either to avoid the current, or touch the bottom with their poles, -- and where it would be accessible without stepping on the clayey shore.”

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

“The finger-print people and the rest would be arriving too, and he was anxious to be out of the way while some twenty people bustled about in the two small rooms where the body was still lying as it had fallen.”

Maigret in Montmartre

“‘We’ll make them fix us up in this corner here, and then we can be out of the way of those goopers, and at the same time keep an eye on the Inspector and his boy friend and their goings-on.’”

Tour de Force

“He remembered sitting astride the dividing wall under the sweeping branches of a copper beech and pulling Janice Meade up beside him, little and light, to be out of the way when callers came, especially the Miss Doncasters.”

The Key