Also: side road
Meaning of Side Street
A side street is a smaller road that carries less traffic adjacent to a the main thoroughfare that more vehicles travel on; a quiet, often more narrow street that leads off of a larger and busier street. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Chapman, Robert L., and Barbara Ann. Kipfer. [http://amzn.to/2w7uK6O American Slang]. New York: Collins Reference, 2005.
Sentence Examples
“The best restaurant in the town is located on a quiet little side street that only the locals know about.”
“During rush hour it’s best to take the side streets to get around.”
“There’s a little side street that connects to Oak Avenue. I don’t know the name of it but it’s just after the bank. That’s where my mechanic works. You can’t miss his garage it’s pretty much the only business on the street.”
“There was no parking in front of my house so I had to park blocks away on a side street.”
“We’re rolling on Vanowen. I’m drivin’. This Acura, just a beautiful car, comes out a side street, all over the median. In excess. I light it up, hit the wailer.” — Training Day (2001)
Origin
The word side, in this idiom, is used to mean ‘off to one side.’
