sidelight

[sahyd-lahyt]

noun

an item of incidental information.
either of two lights carried by a vessel under way at night, a red one on the port side and a green on the starboard.
light coming from the side.

a window or other aperture for light in the side of a building, ship, etc.
a window at the side of a door or another window.

Origin of sidelight

First recorded in 1600–10; side¹ + light¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for side-light

Historical Examples of side-light

Isabel went into the dark entry, and pressed her face against the side-light.
Tiverton Tales
Alice Brown
Perhaps the reader may be interested in a side-light on this subject.
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4
Plotinos (Plotinus)
It is only by a side-light that any connection between the saint and the custom can be traced.
The Royal Mail
James Wilson Hyde
Emerson has treated this matter partially and from a sort of side-light.
The English Novel
Sidney Lanier
He is one of the characters that throw a side-light on our lives.
A Yankee from the West
Opie Read

British Dictionary definitions for side-light

sidelight

noun

light coming from the side
a side window
either of the two navigational running lights used by vessels at night, a red light on the port and a green on the starboard
British either of two small lights on the front of a motor vehicle, used to indicate the presence of the vehicle at night rather than to assist the driver
additional or incidental information

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for side-light

sidelight

also side-light, c.1600, "light coming from the side," from side (adj.) + light (n.). Figurative meaning "incidental information on a subject" is attested from 1862.