Definition of "inside"

inside

/ˈɪnsaɪd/

noun
plural insides
1. The interior or inner part.
  Quotations
  Looked he o' the inside of the paper?
  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, [Act III, scene ii]
2. The left-hand side of a road if one drives on the left, or right-hand side if one drives on the right.
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.
4. (colloquial, in the plural) The interior organs of the body, especially the guts.
5. (dated, UK, colloquial) A passenger within a coach or carriage, as distinguished from one upon the outside.
  Quotations
  So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne, glides / The Derby dilly, carrying three insides.
  1798, John Hookham Frere, George Canning, The Loves of the Triangles
  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.
  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
6. (slang) The inside scoop; information known only to certain involved people.
  Quotations
  Anyone got the inside on the new ratings? The book is out.
  2000, Jean Forray, The View from the Bottom, page 58
adjective
comparative more inside, superlative most inside
1. Of or pertaining to the inner surface, limit or boundary.
2. Nearer to the interior or centre of something.
  Quotations
  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.
  2003, Timothy Noakes, Lore of Running, Human Kinetics, page 731
3. Originating from, arranged by, or being someone inside an organisation.
  Quotations
  “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.”
  2011, G. M. Lucas, An Unsung Quartet, iUniverse, page 210
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.
  Quotations
  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," [...]
  1974, Michael Garfield Smith, The Plural Society in the British West Indies, Univ of California Press, page 235
  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' [...]
  2008, Miriam Koktvedgaard Zeitzen, Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, A&C Black, page 158
  [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.
  2014, Alison Miller, Becoming Yourself: Overcoming Mind Control and Ritual Abuse, Karnac Books, page 185
5. (baseball, of a pitch) Toward the batter as it crosses home plate.
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.
adverb
comparative more inside, superlative most inside
1. Within or towards the interior of something; within the scope or limits of something (a place), especially a building.
  1. (colloquial) In or to prison.
2. Indoors.
3. Intimately, secretly; without expressing what one is feeling or thinking.
preposition
1. Within the interior of something, closest to the center or to a specific point of reference.
2. Within a period of time.
  Quotations
  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.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients

Englia uses cookies to improve user experience.