[f. BY- 4, 5 + THING.] That which is not the main thing; a matter by the way, or for by-times.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. I. xxiv. 174. Not [content to swear] to the whole act, some by-things in it not agreeing to their judgments.
1859. G. Wilson, E. Forbes, x. (1861), 318. Only … as a kind of by-thing could he find time for zoological … pursuits.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, III. iii. 132. These are by-things In the great cause.
