sidle

1690s, from Middle English sidlyng (early 14th century), as side + -lyng (frequentative suffix) (modern English side +‎ -le (frequentative suffix)).[1]

• enPR: sīd-(ə)l, IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪd(ə)l/
• Rhymes: -aɪd(ə)l

sidle (plural sidles)

1. A sideways movement.
2. A furtive advance.

sidle (third-person singular simple present sidles, present participle sidling, simple past and past participle sidled)

1. To move sideways.
2. To advance in a furtive, coy or unobtrusive manner.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:

     At an early point in these exchanges I had started to sidle to the door, and I now sidled through it, rather like a diffident crab on some sandy beach trying to avoid the attentions of a child with a spade.

• sidle up

• sideling, sidling
• sidelong

• crablike

• Diels, Seidl, delis, idles, leids, siled, sleid, slide