Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#INSIDECategory:English terms derived from Middle English#INSIDE ynneside; equivalent to in- +‎ sideCategory:English terms prefixed with in-#SIDE. Compare German Innenseite (“inside”), Danish inderside (“inside”), Swedish insida (“inside”), Dutch binnenzijde (“inside”), German Low German Binnensied, Binnersied (“inside”), Saterland Frisian Binnersiede (“inside”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsaɪd/, /ɪnˈsaɪd/Category:English 2-syllable words#INSIDECategory:English 2-syllable words#INSIDECategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#INSIDE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#INSIDE
• Rhymes: -aɪdCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪd#INSIDECategory:Rhymes:English/aɪd/2 syllables#INSIDE

Noun

inside (plural insides)Category:English lemmas#INSIDECategory:English nouns#INSIDECategory:English countable nouns#INSIDECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#INSIDECategory:Pages with entries#INSIDECategory:Pages with 2 entries#INSIDE

1. The interior or inner part.

   The inside of the building has been extensively restored.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Looked he o' the inside of the paper?

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2. The left-hand side of a road if one drives on the left, or right-hand side if one drives on the right.

   On a motorway, you should never pass another vehicle on the inside.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

3. The side of a curved road, racetrack etc. that has the shorter arc length; the side of a racetrack nearer the interior of the course or some other point of reference.

   The car in front drifted wide on the bend, so I darted up the inside to take the lead.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

4. (colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#INSIDE, in the plural) The interior organs of the body, especially the guts.

   Eating that stuff will damage your insides.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

5. (datedCategory:English dated terms#INSIDE, UKCategory:British English#INSIDE, colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#INSIDE) A passenger within a coach or carriage, as distinguished from one upon the outside.
   • 1798, John Hookham Frere, George Canning, The Loves of the Triangles:

     So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne, glides / The Derby dilly, carrying three insides.

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   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     So, what between Mr. Dowler's stories, and Mrs. Dowler's charms, and Mr. Pickwick's good humour, and Mr. Winkle's good listening, the insides contrived to be very companionable all the way.

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6. (slangCategory:English slang#INSIDE) The inside scoop; information known only to certain involved people.
   • 2000, Jean Forray, The View from the Bottom, page 58:

     Anyone got the inside on the new ratings? The book is out.

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Adjective

inside (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#INSIDECategory:English adjectives#INSIDECategory:English uncomparable adjectives#INSIDECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#INSIDECategory:Pages with entries#INSIDECategory:Pages with 2 entries#INSIDE

1. Of or pertaining to the inner surface, limit or boundary.

   The inside surface of the cup is unpainted.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

2. Nearer to the interior or centre of something.

   Because of the tighter bend, it's harder to run in an inside lane.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   All the window seats were occupied, so she took an inside seat.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   • 2003, Timothy Noakes, Lore of Running, Human Kinetics, →ISBN, page 731:

     As the centripetal force is an inverse function of the radius of the curve, it follows that the runner in the outside lane will be less affected than the runner in the inside lane.

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3. Originating from, arranged by, or being someone inside an organisation.

   The reporter had received inside information about the forthcoming takeover.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   The robbery was planned by the security guard: it was an inside job.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   They wanted to know the inside story behind the celebrity's fall from grace.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   • 2011, G. M. Lucas, An Unsung Quartet, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 210:

     “They have an inside man at the base, so I didn't want to alert him. If their inside man called Mr. C about us locating the C-4, I doubt you and Gail would still be alive.”

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4. (of a person) Legally married to or related to (e.g. born in wedlock to), and/or residing with, a specified other person (parent, child, or partner); (of a marriage, relationship, etc) existing between two such people.

   Antonym: outside

   • 1974, Michael Garfield Smith, The Plural Society in the British West Indies, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 235:

     But the terms normally used to distinguish a man's resident and absent children are "inside" and "outside," the reference being to the home where the common father dwells. Only rarely will a man describe his "inside" children born out of out of wedlock as "lawful," [...]

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   • 2008, Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen, Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 158:

     An 'outside wife' has limited social recognition and status because her husband typically refuses to declare her publicly as his wife. She also has much less social and politico-jural recognition than an 'inside wife' [...]

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   • 2014, Alison Miller, Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse, Karnac Books, →ISBN, page 185:

     [The person] who was going to visit her with his wife had a physical resemblance to the abuser, so some of her inside children had a strong reaction of fear and revulsion to him. They were afraid to look at the face of the guest in case he was the abuser.

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5. (baseballCategory:en:Baseball#INSIDE, of a pitch) Toward the batter as it crosses home plate.

   The first pitch is ... just a bit inside.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

6. At or towards or the left-hand side of the road if one drives on the left, or right-hand side if one drives on the right.

   the inside lane of the motorwayCategory:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

Adverb

inside (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#INSIDECategory:English adverbs#INSIDECategory:English uncomparable adverbs#INSIDECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#INSIDECategory:Pages with entries#INSIDECategory:Pages with 2 entries#INSIDE

1. Within or towards the interior of something; within the scope or limits of something (a place), especially a building.

   It started raining, so I went inside.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   The secretive residents of the massive city-ship tended to stay inside.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   2. (colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#INSIDE) In or to prison.

      He spent ten years inside, doing a stretch for burglary.

2. Indoors.

   It was snowing, so the children stayed inside.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

3. Intimately, secretly; without expressing what one is feeling or thinking.

   Are you laughing at us inside?Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

Preposition

insideCategory:English lemmas#INSIDECategory:English prepositions#INSIDECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#INSIDECategory:Pages with entries#INSIDECategory:Pages with 2 entries#INSIDE

1. Within the interior of something, closest to the center or to a specific point of reference.

   He placed the letter inside the envelope.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

2. Within a period of time.

   The job was finished inside two weeks.Category:English terms with usage examples#INSIDE

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Then he commenced to talk, really talk, and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

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Derived terms

Anagrams

• Indies, in dies, indies, Sindie, die-ins

Verb

īnsidēCategory:Latin non-lemma forms#INSIDECategory:Latin verb forms#INSIDECategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#INSIDECategory:Pages with entries#INSIDECategory:Pages with 2 entries#INSIDE

1. second-person singular present active imperative of īnsideō