turn aside

Verb

turn aside (third-person singular simple present turns aside, present participle turning aside, simple past and past participle turned aside)

1. (intransitive) To avert one's gaze
2. (ambitransitive) To ignore (something) or turn a blind eye (to something)
   • I turn aside — I turn aside From Strangers' mirth and glee;1842, Westland Marston, Gerald: A Dramatic Poem, page 134
3. (transitive) To turn away; to refuse to let someone in
4. (transitive) To divert or move out of the way.
   • Behind this curtain is the most sacred recess of philosophic mysteries, therefore, it does not become unhallowed persons on common occasions to approach it, far less to turn it aside, in order to look in. Philosophers themselves , the mystagogues in the temple of decorum, must approach it with...1838, Robert Sandeman, Letters on Theron and Aspasio: Addressed to the Author, page 162
   • Moreover, as Lord of providence, it would cost him nothing so to overrule the course of events, as either to turn aside the current of temptation, or altogether neutralize its power upon the heart.1872, William Robertson Aikman, The Fountain of Israel, page 33
5. To reject; to resist or refuse to aid.
   • For to turn aside from God, and to say in the heart, " There is no God," are one and the same thing;1826, Martin Luther, Select Works of Martin Luther, page 72
   • And this is especially true of Christians, who, whatever may be said of others, cannot plead that there was not power sufficient to meet the temptation, or to turn aside its power.1851, Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, page 205
6. To alter one's course or activity.
   • Hathi will not turn aside for the Striped One. Yet Hathi and the Striped One together turn aside for the dhole, and the dhole they say turn aside for nothing.1895, Rudyard Kipling, The Second Jungle Book
   • In his surprise Moses said to himself, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burned. And, when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said Moses, Moses.1904, Robert Shaw, Sketch of the Religions of the World, page 77