fall by the wayside

English

WOTD – 10 January 2020

Etymology

From the Parable of the Sower told by Jesus and recorded in the New Testament of the Bible, the term appearing in Matthew 13:4, Mark 4:4, and Luke 8:5. The parable is the story of a farmer who sows seed, and “some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it” (Luke 8:5). Jesus then explains: “The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside, are they that hear: then cometh the Devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe, and be saved.” (Luke 8:11–12, King James Version, spelling modernized.)

The English term is derived from Ancient Greek ἔπεσεν παρὰ τὴν ὁδόν (épesen parà tḕn hodón, literally “fell beside the path”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːl baɪ ðə ˈweɪsaɪd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔl baɪ ðə ˈweɪˌsaɪd/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fall by the way‧side

Verb

fall by the wayside (third-person singular simple present falls by the wayside, present participle falling by the wayside, simple past fell by the wayside, past participle fallen by the wayside)

1. (idiomatic) To fail to be completed, particularly for lack of interest; to be left out, to suffer from neglect.
   • 1843 April 23, J[ohn] T. Sargent, A Cup of Blessing, or The Pastor’s Acknowledgment to His People in Return for Their Full Chalice, Boston, Mass.: Printed by Samuel N. Dickinson, →OCLC, page 10:

     When I faint and fall by the wayside of my cares, it [a "cup of favor"] shall give me strength to bear up, as the refreshments of your sympathy seem to flow from its lip, and when I thirst, it shall be as one of the consecrated fountains of my relief.

   • 1877 January, “Art. II.—1. ‘The Frosty Caucasus;’ an Account of a Walk through Part of the Range and of an Ascent of Elbruz in the Summer of 1874. By F. C. Grove. London: 1875. 2. Travels in the Caucasus and Persia and Turkey in Asia. By Lieut. Baron Max Von Thielmann. Translated by C. Heneage, F.R.G.S. London: 1875. 3. The Crimea and Transcaucasia: Being the Narrative of a Journey in the Kouban, in Gouria, Georgia, Armenia, Ossety, Imeritia, Swannety, and Mingrelia. By Commander J. Buchan Telfer, R.N., F.R.G.S. London: 1876. [book review]”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, American edition, volume CXLV, number CCXCVII, New York, N.Y.: Published by the Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, page 31:

     The information given is so copious that the facts—archæological, ethnological, and so on—might, we think, have been grouped with advantage, at any rate to students, in special chapters, instead of being allowed to fall by the wayside as chance ordered.

   • 1903, Tom Collins [pseudonym; Joseph Furphy], “Wed. Jan. 9th. Trinidad Pad., per Sam Young. Conclave.”, in Such is Life: Being Certain Extracts from the Diary of Tom Collins (Bulletin Library; 5), Sydney, N.S.W.: The Bulletin Newspaper Company, →OCLC, page 198; republished London: Hogarth Press, 1986, →ISBN, page 247:

     Nature's precious link between a squalid Past and a nobler Future, broken, snatched away from her allotted place in the long chain of the ages! Heiress of infinite hope, and dowered with latent fitness to fulfil her part, now so suddenly fallen by the wayside!

   • 1926 December, Myrtle Hummer, “Abuse of the Competitive Element in the High School Program”, in James Huff McCurdy, editor, American Physical Education Review, volume XXXI, number 10 (number 222 overall), Springfield, Mass.: American Physical Education Association, →OCLC, page 1154, column 2:

     The boy and girl taking their cue from us also fail to put "first things first" and we find them falling by the wayside because our sense of relative values failed to function.

   • 1987, Richard R. Skemp, “The Idea of a Schema”, in The Psychology of Learning Mathematics, expanded American edition, Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, →ISBN; reprinted New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2009, →ISBN, page 33:

     At this stage the learner tries to master the new tasks by the only means known—memorizing the rule for each kind of problem. This task being now impossible, even the outward appearance of progress ceases, and, with accompanying distress, another pupil falls by the wayside.

   • 1996, Kathryn Petras, Ross Petras, “Drama & Film of the World”, in World Access: The Handbook for Citizens of the Earth, New York, N.Y.: Fireside, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 379, column 2:

     [D]ying dramatic arts like Kabuki and No (or Noh) that have existed for years [...] are falling by the wayside because of the onslaught of VCRs and the Hollywoodization of the dramatic arts.

   • 2009 March 20, John Hamburg, Larry Levin, I Love You, Man, spoken by Robbie Klaven (Andy Samberg):

     Zooey, here's the deal. Peter's always been a girlfriend guy. He put all his focus and energy into his relationships, and all his dude friends just fell by the wayside.

   • 2011, David Campos, “Overview”, in Jump Start Health!: Practical Ideas to Promote Wellness in Kids of All Ages, New York, N.Y.: Teachers College Press, →ISBN, part I (Coming to Terms with Childhood Obesity), page 5:

     Throughout the years, milk drinking has fallen by the wayside as soda drinking has gained in popularity.

   • 2011, Sandra M. Chait, “Having the Last Word”, in Seeking Salaam: Ethiopians, Eritreans, and Somalis in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, →ISBN, page 114:

     Given the absence of an accepted government that unites Somalis behind it, the question of Somali nationality and identity falls by the wayside.

   • 2020 January 2, Philip Haigh, “Ten eventful years and plenty of talking points”, in Rail, page 54:

     Planned orders for new trains fell by the wayside, justified amid passenger figures that had fallen back following the recession of the late 2000s (caused by the banking crash).

Related terms

• go by the wayside

Translations

to fail to be completed, particularly for lack of interest; to be left out, to suffer from neglect

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 虎頭​蛇尾／虎头​蛇尾 (hǔtóushéwěi)

• Dutch: buiten de boot vallen (literally “to fall out of the boat”), falen (nl)
• French: être sur le carreau (fr) (literally “to be upon the pavement”), rester sur le carreau (fr) (literally “to rest upon the pavement”)
• German: auf der Strecke bleiben (de) (literally “to remain on the route”), in Vergessenheit geraten (literally “to fall into oblivion”), vernachlässigt werden (literally “to become neglected”), verkümmern (de)
• Italian: arenarsi, cadere nel dimenticatoio (literally “to fall into oblivion”), fallire (it)
• Russian: не выдерживать чего́-либо (ne vyderživatʹ čevó-libo, literally “to not survive something”), терпеть поражение (terpetʹ poraženije, literally “to suffer an ailment”)

Further reading

• “fall by the wayside, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.