beside

1. 1
   preposition

   At or by the side of someone or something; next to.

   A small lamp stood beside the bed.

   He walked beside me the whole way home, saying nothing.

   Similarby, alongside, near

   Note

   The literal sense is the oldest. It comes from Old English be sīdan, "by the side (of)", which became a single word in Middle English. German beiseite and Low German bisied share the same roots, though they mean "aside" rather than "next to". Middle English also had a variant, besides, which survives today as a separate word with its own work to do.

2. 2
   preposition

   Not relevant to; having no bearing on the matter under discussion.

   Whose fault it was is beside the point; the deadline has already passed.

   His remarks about the budget were beside the question the board had actually raised.

   Note

   A figurative stretch of the spatial sense: a remark beside the point stands next to it rather than on it. Today the meaning lives almost entirely in fixed phrases, above all beside the point, and more rarely beside the question or beside the mark. It usually follows is or was. Topic, subject or focus can fill the slot, but the point is what readers expect.

3. 3
   preposition

   In addition to; as well as; besides.

   Beside her teaching duties, she runs the school newspaper.

   There were several reasons to refuse beside the obvious one.

   Similarbesides

   Note

   Most readers now expect besides for this additive meaning, as in besides the obvious reason. Usage guides prefer besides here and keep beside for position, so beside her teaching duties can look like a slip. The additive beside persists in older and formal prose. In your own writing, besides is the safer choice.

4. 4
   adverbliterary

   In addition to everything else; as well; otherwise.

   The old house held a thousand books, and dusty manuscripts beside.

   She had her small wages, and a modest inheritance beside.

   Similartoo, besides, also

   Note

   Poets keep this adverb alive, and they place it after what it modifies. Shelley writes "Nothing beside remains" in Ozymandias, Pope writes "To all beside" in An Essay on Man (1733), and Tennyson divides the soul "from all beside" in 1850. After all or nothing it means "else"; elsewhere it means "as well". Everyday prose uses besides, so save beside for a deliberately literary effect.

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