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Aisle (pronounoe ile)

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The north and south wings of a church. Latin, ala (axilla, ascella), through the French, aile, a wing. In German the nave of a church is schiff, and the aisle flügel (a wing). In some church documents the aisles are called alleys (walks), and hence the nave is still sometimes called the “middle aisle” or alley. The choir of Lincoln Cathedral used to be called the “Chantersʹ alley;” and Olden tells us that when he came to be church-warden, in 1638, he made the Puritans “come up the middle alley on their knees to the raile.”

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Air
Air
Air
Air one’s opinions (To)
Air-brained
Air-line
Air-ship (An)
Air-throne
Airs
Aïrapadam
Aisle (pronounoe ile)
Aitch-bone
Ajax
Ajax
Akbar
Akuan
Akuman
Alabama
Alabaster
Aladdin
Aladdin’s Lamp