sidelight
sidelight Lexical Profile
sidelight Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A narrow vertical window installed immediately beside an exterior door or a larger window to admit additional natural light into an entryway.
"The carpenter installed frosted glass sidelights on either side of the heavy oak front door to brighten the foyer."
An incidental piece of information, observation, or anecdote that provides additional context or insight into a main subject.
"The historian's personal letters offer fascinating sidelights on daily life in nineteenth-century London."
British A small, low-intensity white lamp mounted at the front corner of a motor vehicle to make its width and position visible in dim conditions.
"As dusk settled over the country lane, the driver switched on the car's sidelights before full darkness required headlights."
Light directed from the side of a stage, photographic subject, or scene, or a lamp positioned to produce such illumination.
"The portrait photographer used a warm sidelight to accentuate the contours of the subject's face."
One of the colored navigation lamps mounted on the port (red) and starboard (green) sides of a vessel or aircraft to indicate its orientation at night.
"The harbor patrol spotted the sailboat's green starboard sidelight cutting through the coastal fog."
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the 18th century as a compound of 'side' and 'light', combining the architectural sense of 'light' (a window or pane of glass admitting daylight) with the literal sense of a lamp positioned on the side of a stage or vehicle.