Does "next to" mean "to the right" or "to the left"?

Question

According to Oxford Learner's Dictionary,

next to

1. in or into a position right beside somebody/something

2. following in order or importance after somebody/something

If:

A is next to B

it should mean that A is immediately beside B (as per the cited definition). I would normally assume that A comes after B or is to to B's right.

Context

I'm trying to the solve the "Einstein's Riddle" and two of the givens are:

• The Norwegian lives in the first house.
• The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

If the Norwegian is the first house in a row of five houses, it can't possibly come after the blue house. In this case, knowing the correct position is most important. What should I assume? I'm arranging the houses horizontally from left to right. So, will the N house be leftmost? If so, will the blue house be to its right?

Question

Now the question is:

Is A to the right of B? Or to the left?

Definition #2 seems to suggest that A comes after B — that is, to the right (assuming things are ordered from left to right, as is generally).

However, if A and B are next to each other, A is to the right of B, and B is to the left of A. Either ways are possible then.

Which one is a correct interpretation of 'next to'?

Answer 1

The meaning of 'next to' has already been well answered here, but I would like to add in context:

This question introduced me to Einstein's "five houses" riddle which I worked on for an hour and solved 2 days back. Since houses are assumed to be arranged horizontally in the riddle, the Norwegian lives in the first house from left or right and the house 'next to' it is EITHER the house second from left or the (4th) house second from right. Selecting either end apparently does not affect the final question of the puzzle though the exact solution may differ a little.

Note: As pointed out in an earlier answer here, the key with the regular usage of 'first' and 'next to' is not to assume that something is the 'first thing' from the left or that 'next to' means to the right (or left) of something else unless it is specifically mentioned. Otherwise we should proceed with an open mind.

Note 2: a very perceptive answer at ELL did point out the houses could even be arranged in a circle except that the clue 'first' house suggests a linear arrangement.

Answer 2

The word "next", in talking about physical location, is the same as adjacent. Physically close, and if there is a set of objects, there is no object between them.

In using the word "next" in reference to something that comes after the current thing, there needs to be a direct ordering. For example, in a queue

Bob is after Joe in the queue. Joe is currently being served, and Bob is next.

You could use "next to" in an example like this, but I have never heard it used to imply ordering, and would only assume in this next example that Bob and Joe were adjacent, and would need more information to know who is first. in fact, were someone to say something like this to me, I would initially assume that Bob and Joe were sharing the same place in the queue- one is not in front of the other.

Bob and Joe are in the queue. Bob is next to Joe.

In your riddle example

The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.

I would definitely assume that the Norwegian's house and the blue house are adjacent, but would make no assumption of ordering just based on these two statements.

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Going into further detail to explain the second definition of "next to" that you mentioned.

Merriam-Webster only has two definitions for "next to":

1: immediately following or adjacent to
2: in comparison to-- "next to you I'm wealthy"

If I were to use the first usage in an ordered sense, it would be something like

Starting from the left of the photo, we have Bob. Standing next to him is Joe.

But again, "next to" doesn't give the ordering- the implied ordering (Joe is obviously on the right of Bob) comes from the other things I have said ("starting from the left"), not from the term "next to".

The second definition is idomatic. "next to you I'm wealthy" implies something like "were we to stand next to each other and compare our wealth, I would appear wealthy."

An idiomatic usage that is very similar to M-W's second use is noted in the Dictionary.com entry:

9 c aside from: Next to cake, ice cream is my favorite dessert.

Again, this implies an imaginary ranking of favorite desserts. Cake would be at the top, followed by ice cream.

Answer 3

I feel here in Oxford the word 'right' shows closeness. So the meaning of 'next to' is nearby... either it is in right or left.