Here is a part of a sentence from my book:

> ・・・・手裏剣をよけざま・・・・

I can't find any help in any of my references on the pattern of "masu-stem +
ざま", which makes me hesitant to say that's exactly what it is, but I also
can't figure out anything else it could be. From what it looks like to me it
says "(he) dodged the shuriken", and I want to say that that "ざま" is 様,
meaning "state" (and without the kanji I'm assuming it's "よけ" as in the masu-
stem of "避ける" meaning "to avoid").

Am I right about the formation of this phrase? Can anyone add/correct
anything?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-01T23:03:28.233
6997
2016-03-04T19:57:36.220
2016-03-04T19:57:36.220
921
question
grammar suffixes renyōkei
What is "masu-stem + ざま"?
> 手裏剣をよけざま

「よけ」 should be 避ける（avoid/dodge）. 「～しざま」 means "while / the moment / at the
same time". It can be rephrased like 「～する際」 「～しながら」. So the sentence appears
to be "he did something while he dodged the shuriken". It needs more context
to be accurate.

**さま2 【様・▽方】**

> ［2］ 現代では普通「ざま」の形をとる。動詞連用形に付く。  
>  （イ） …する瞬間、…すると同時の意を表す。  
>  「すれ違い―」  
>  「振り向き―」

source: [大辞林 提供： 三省堂](http://www.excite.co.jp/world/j_dictionary/ITEM-
DJR_sama_-010/%E3%81%95%E3%81%BE%E6%A7%98%E3%83%BB%E6%96%B9/beginswith/%E6%A7%98/?itemid=DJR_sama_-010&title=%E3%81%95%E3%81%BE%E6%A7%98%E3%83%BB%E6%96%B9)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-10-01T23:47:28.460
6998
2016-03-04T19:57:09.403
2016-03-04T19:57:09.403
1720
6997
answer