Collateral
WordNet
adjective
(1) Descended from a common ancestor but through different lines
"Cousins are collateral relatives"
"An indirect descendant of the Stuarts"
(2) Situated or running side by side
"Collateral ridges of mountains"
(3) Accompany, concomitant
"Collateral target damage from a bombing run"
(4) Serving to support or corroborate
"Collateral evidence"
noun
(5) A security pledged for the repayment of a loan
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Recorded since c.1378, from , from , from (a form of con-) + the stem of .
Adjective
- parallel, along the same vein, side by side.
- Corresponding; accompanying, concomitant.
- being aside from the main subject; tangential, subordinate, ancillary.
- Although not a direct cause, empire-building was certainly a collateral incitement for the war.
- (family) of an indirect ancestral relationship, as opposed to lineal descendency.
- Uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces are collateral relatives.
- 1885, Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume 5,
- The pure blood all descends from five collateral lines called Al-Khamsah (the Cinque).
- relating to a collateral in the sense of an obligation or security
Noun
- A security or guarantee (usually an asset) pledged for the repayment of a loan if one cannot procure enough funds to repay. (Originally supplied as "accompanying" security.)
- A collateral (not linear) family member.
- A branch of a bodily part or system of organs
- Besides the arteries blood streams trough numerous veins we call collaterals