sidelight

[ sahyd-lahyt ]

noun
  1. an item of incidental information.

  2. 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.

  1. light coming from the side.

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

  3. a window at the side of a door or another window.

Origin of sidelight

1
First recorded in 1600–10; side1 + light1

Words Nearby sidelight

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sidelight in a sentence

  • As a(nother) sidelight, it's clear that Romney or whoever wrote this piece doesn't actually understand what culture even is.

  • He tells me to carry on and, in doing so, throws an amusing sidelight upon himself.

  • Nothing was wrong but the loss of one sidelight, and the car went better than before.

    Our Part in the Great War | Arthur Gleason
  • An interesting sidelight on the affair was received a few days later.

    Camps and Trails in China | Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews
  • Morgan had never been so interesting as now that he himself was made plainer by the sidelight of these confidences.

    The Pupil | Henry James
  • A glow-worm burned stilly, lighting up the whole leaf as a ship's sidelight lights up its painted box.

    The Tower of Oblivion | Oliver Onions

British Dictionary definitions for sidelight

sidelight

/ (ˈsaɪdˌlaɪt) /


noun
  1. light coming from the side

  2. a side window

  1. either of the two navigational running lights used by vessels at night, a red light on the port and a green on the starboard

  2. 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

  3. 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