[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

lateral \lat"eral\, a. l. lateralis, fr. latus, lateris, side:
   cf. f. lat'eral.
   1. of or pertaining to the sides; as, the lateral walls of a
      house; the lateral branches of a tree.
      1913 webster

   2. anat. lying at, or extending toward, the side; away from
      the mesial plane; external; -- opposed to mesial.
      1913 webster

   3. directed to the side; as, a lateral view of a thing.
      1913 webster

   lateral cleavage crystallog., cleavage parallel to the
      lateral planes.

   lateral equation math., an equation of the first degree.
      obs.

   lateral line anat., in fishes, a line of sensory organs
      along either side of the body, often marked by a distinct
      line of color.

   lateral pressure or stress mech., a pressure or stress
      at right angles to the length, as of a beam or bridge; --
      distinguished from longitudinal pressure or stress.

   lateral strength mech., strength which resists a tendency
      to fracture arising from lateral pressure.

   lateral system bridge building, the system of horizontal
      braces as between two vertical trusses by which lateral
      stiffness is secured.
      1913 webster lateral
see also:
mesial lateral cleavage lateral equation lateral line lateral pressure stress 
lateral strength lateral system 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

lateral \lat"eral\, lateral pass \lat"eral pass`\, n.
   football
   1. a short pass to a receiver who is upfield from the passer,
      i.e. is behind the passer relative to the direction of the
      passer's goal.
      pjc

   2. a part or extension of something that points sideways, as
      a drift in a mine that goes to the side from the main one.
      pjc

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

lateral \lat"eral\, v. t.  i. football
   to pass the footbal to a receiver who is behind the passer;
   to make a lateral pass; as, the ball was lateraled to the
   fullback, who ran it for a touchdown.
   pjc

[4] : WordNet (r) 2.0

lateral
     adj 1: situated at or extending to the side; "the lateral branches
            of a tree"; "shot out sidelong boughs"- tennyson syn:
             sidelong
     2: lying away from the median and sagittal plane of a body;
        "lateral lemniscus"
     n : a pass to a receiver upfield from the passer syn: lateral
         pass
see also:
sidelong lateral pass 

[5] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

205 moby thesaurus words for "lateral":
   accented, allophone, alveolar, apical, apico-alveolar,
   apico-dental, articulated, articulation, aspiration, assimilated,
   assimilation, back, barytone, bifacial, bilabial, bilateral, bowl,
   broad, cacuminal, cast, central, cerebral, change of pace,
   change-up, check, checked, chuck, chunk, close, consonant,
   consonantal, continuant, curve, dental, dihedral, diphthong,
   dissimilated, dissimilation, dorsal, downcurve, edge,
   epenthetic vowel, explosive, fastball, flanked, flanking, flat,
   fling, flip, forward pass, front, glancing, glide, glossal,
   glottal, glottalization, go crabwise, go sideways, guttural,
   handed, hard, heave, heavy, high, hurl, incurve, intonated,
   knuckleball, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar,
   laryngeal, lateral pass, lateralize, lax, lee, leeward, light,
   lingual, liquid, lob, low, make leeway, manner of articulation,
   many-sided, mid, modification, monophthong, monophthongal,
   morphophoneme, multilateral, mute, muted, narrow, nasal, nasalized,
   next-beside, occlusive, one-sided, open, outcurve, oxytone,
   palatal, palatalized, parasitic vowel, pass, peak, peg, pharyngeal,
   pharyngealization, pharyngealized, phone, phoneme, phonemic,
   phonetic, phonic, pitch, pitched, plosive, polyhedral, posttonic,
   prothetic vowel, put, quadrilateral, retroflex, rounded, screwball,
   segmental phoneme, semivowel, serve, service, shot-put, shy, side,
   sided, sideling, sidelong, sideslip, sidestep, sideward, sidewards,
   sideway, sideways, sidewise, sidle, sinker, skew, skid, skirting,
   slider, sling, soft, sonant, sonority, speech sound, spitball,
   spitter, stop, stopped, stressed, strong, surd, syllabic,
   syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, tense, tetrahedral,
   thick, three-sided, throaty, throw, tonal, tonic, toss,
   transition sound, trihedral, trilateral, triphthong, triquetrous,
   twangy, two-sided, unaccented, unilateral, unrounded, unstressed,
   upcurve, veer, velar, vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced,
   voiced sound, voiceless, voiceless sound, voicing, vowel,
   vowellike, weak, weather, wide, windward

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