Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To strike along the side in passing.
  • noun A glancing blow on or along the side.
  • noun An incidental critical remark; a gibe.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A blow with the side of something, such as the side of car that is changing lanes incautiously.
  • noun A catty or sarcastic remark.
  • verb To give a blow with the side, as to strike with the side of a car when turning.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb strike from the side
  • noun a glancing blow from or on the side of something (especially motor vehicles)

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • A 2007 Nissan Sentra was traveling west on W.Va. 9 and a 2009 Toyota Yaris traveling eastbound struck it in what police described as a sideswipe manner, causing the Toyota to run over an embankment, rolling onto its side against a tree.

    The Journal 2009

  • If you're going to have your picture in GQ, you're going to invite a certain amount of comment, she continued, grinding any notion of sisterhood under her booted-heel to make a sideswipe at her fellow panellist, Tory backbencher Louise Mensch.

    Committee's solution to attacks on female politicians: 'just get on with it' 2012

  • There was a sideswipe when cars that derailed struck cars on the adjacent track, he said.

    Freight train derails near Tacoma 2011

  • As Mr. Casey maneuvered the large vehicle through traffic, he said he wouldn't mind having an altercation with another driver: "It would be cool to have a taxi sideswipe us and be at this intersection and have an argument."

    Storm Chaser and Tank Blow Into Town Marshall Heyman 2011

  • However, you stray off the reservation by taking a sideswipe at the black-footed ferret, greater sage-grouse, orchids and wild mustangs, not to mention the archeological and paleontological professions.

    The Main Engineering Problems Used to Be Engineering 2011

  • Debate over whether Michaele could make it on her own, which allows Paul to give the sideswipe that it's easy for Lynda to say -- she married and divorced a very rich man, that's where the lucre's from, not her modeling agency.

    Last one ever?: D.C. 'Housewives' recap and fact-check (#9, Oct. 7) The Reliable Source 2010

  • But beyond another sideswipe at employment rights this autumn, there was little new from the Treasury.

    Suddenly the state is back in vogue at Number 10. But for how long? | Will Hutton 2011

  • Bank of France governor Christian Noyer launched an attack on ratings companies Thursday that included a sideswipe at the U.K., continuing the war of words that has raged since last week's U.K. veto of a new European treaty.

    France's Triple-A War of Words Richard Barley 2011

  • The fifth edition of the Oxford Companion to English Literature defined it as "often containing not only fictional but historical people and/or events," adding that "in serious work there is a real attempt at accuracy and credibility" a sideswipe perhaps at bodice- rippers.

    Mongols on the Moskva Allan Mallinson 2011

  • But the recent sideswipe by David Cameron at superinjunctions is pointless.

    It should be curtains for celebrities with a bedroom secret 2011

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