get a word in edgeways

English

Verb

get a word in edgeways (third-person singular simple present gets a word in edgeways, present participle getting a word in edgeways, simple past got a word in edgeways, past participle (UK) got a word in edgeways or (US) gotten a word in edgeways)

1. (chiefly British) Alternative form of get a word in edgewise
   • 1894 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Servants of the Queen”, in The Jungle Book, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published June 1894, →OCLC, page 196:

     The baggage-camel had been bobbing his head to and from for some time past, anxious to get a word in edgeways.

   • 1999, Zena Collier, chapter 3, in A Cooler Climate, Lincoln, Neb.: toExcel Press, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 24:

     I sat there, letting his voice run on. Even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't have gotten a word in edgeways. Perhaps if life continued thi way, I would gradually lose the faculty of speech, [...]

   • 1999, Felicia Hughes-Freeland, “Dance on Film: Strategy and Serendipity”, in Theresa J. Buckland, editor, Dance in the Field: Theory, Methods and Issues in Dance Ethnography, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, part II (Methodological Approaches), page 117:

     I only included the interview because it is revealing of Javanese gender relationships. The young dancer is muted and hardly gets a word in edgeways, as the (male) troupe leader and her mother hijack each question and provide answers which are sometimes contradictory.

   • 2014, Ben Elton, chapter 5, in Time and Time Again, London: Black Swan, Transworld Publishers, →ISBN, page 57:

     Stanton stood up. It seemed the only way of getting a word in edgeways.

   • 2014, Emma O’Reilly, with Shannon Kyle, “Old Wounds”, in The Race to Truth: Blowing the Whistle on Lance Armstrong and Cycling’s Doping Culture, London: Bantam Press, →ISBN, page 248:

     Betsy rang me every now and then, but I couldn't get caught up in the 'fight' like she did. Besides, if I got a word in edgeways during each call I'd be lucky.

   • 2024, Keir Starmer, 17:49 from the start, in The ITV Election Debate 2024, ITV:

     Rishi Sunak: […] You want to be Prime Minister, how would you resolve the strikes?
     Keir Starmer: I wish he had as much— (cut off)
     RS: How would you resolve them?
     KS: I wish he had as much to say when Liz Truss was crashing the economy.
     Julie Etchingham: Can you answer Rishi Sunak's point please, Keir Starmer?
     KS: Well I will if I could get a word in edgeways. His record is him saying, "I'm not going to get in the room to negotiate" […]