get a word in edgeways. feeble, fickle, envious, gluttonous, drunken, avaricious, ambitious, bloodthirsty, slanderous, debauched, fanatical, hypocritical, and stupid?’

“‘Do you think’, said Candide, ‘that men have always massacred each other the way they do now? that they’ve always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands? that they’ve always been feeble, fickle, envious, gluttonous, drunken, avaricious, ambitious, bloodthirsty, slanderous, debauched, fanatical, hypocritical, and stupid?’

‘Do you think’, said Martin, ‘that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they find them?’” – Voltaire, ‘Candide’

“I've always tried out my material on my dogs first. You know, with Angel, he sits there and listens and I get the feeling he understands everything. But with Charley, I always felt he was just waiting to get a word in edgewise. Years ago, when my red setter chewed up the manuscript of Of Mice and Men, I said at the time that the dog must have been an excellent literary critic.”
—John Steinbeck, born on this day in 1902.

edgewaysLine breaks: edge|ways

Pronunciation: /ˈɛdʒweɪz/

(US edgewiseˈɛdʒwʌɪz)

Definition of edgeways in English:

adverb

With the edge uppermost or towards the viewer:an electric fan is quieter heard edgeways on than from in front or behind

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Phrases

get a word in edgeways

1

[USUALLY WITH NEGATIVE] Contribute to a conversation with difficulty because the other speaker talks incessantly:give him a bit of limelight and away he goes—no oneelse can get a word in edgeways