The edge or side of a road or path; also used in the phrase 'fall by the wayside' meaning to be abandoned or forgotten.
Compound of 'way' (Old English 'weg') and 'side' (Old English 'side'). Originally a literal term for the side of a road where travelers might stop or rest, it became figurative by the 1500s in the phrase 'fall by the wayside.'
The phrase 'fall by the wayside' comes from the Biblical parable where seeds fall on the road and birds eat them, so when we say someone's dreams 'fell by the wayside,' we're using 2,000-year-old agricultural imagery wrapped in a single English word.
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