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In the following text I don't understand what "sidle around" means, I know what sidle means, but I can't imagine in my head how to "sidle around" something, I can certainly understand what walking around something means, but I can't get into my head how would someone sidle around something. Could anyone please explain?

You could see the garage, too: a long gray intestine, its doors wide open. The trucks were parked on the paved lot next to it. He was right about the trucks—his brains were functioning. God forbid you should stick your head between two trucks. You have to sidle around them.

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Think about how you would slip through a narrow space: you‘d turn your body sidewise and move crablike, moving the front foot forward, and then pulling the other one up to it.

(I once parked my car too close to a pillar in the parking structure of a supermarket. After loading my groceries into the back, I pressed the button to close the hatch and attempted to sidle between the quarter-panel of the car and the pillar, resting my hands on the car body — incautious leaving one hand in the path of the electrically closing hatch. It nearly broke three of my fingers and did succeed in tearing the nail off my index finger.)

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  • I think I understand, so "sidle around" would mean "moving surreptitiously and cautiously around something"? In this case, the characters have to move cautiously around the trucks, but instead of saying "move cautiously around" the translator picked the expression "sidle around", would my understanding be correct?
    – Ihavequestions
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 4:32
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    Sidle has the specific meaning 'move sideways' (as Michael told you).
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 8:00
  • @Ihavequestions — it does not mean “surreptitiously”, it means walk literally or metaphorically sideways, for whatever reason: because of limited space or to avoid detection, for example.
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Jul 27, 2022 at 12:38
  • I understand, thank you!
    – Ihavequestions
    Commented Jul 28, 2022 at 16:31

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