Col·lăt'er·al1, a.
a. [L. Lat. collateralis, from con and lateralis, lateral, from latus, side.]
Sense 1. On the side of; adjacent; intermediately or subordinately connected; indirect; as, collateral pressure.
If by direct or by collateral hand They find us touched, we will our kingdom give To you in satisfaction. Shak.
That he [Atterbury] was altogether in the wrong on the main question, and on all the collateral questions springing out of it, . . . is true. Macaulay.
Sense 2. (Genealogy.) Descending from the same stock or ancestor, but not one from the other; — opposed to lineal.
Lineal descendants proceed one from another in a direct line: collateral relations spring from a common ancestor, but from different branches of that common stirps or stock. Thus the children of brothers are collateral relations, having different fathers, but a common grandfather. Blackstone.
Collateral assurance, that which is made over and above the deed itself.—Collateral issue. (Law.) (a.) An issue taken upon a matter aside from the merits of the case. (b.) An issue raised by a criminal convict who pleads any matter allowed by law in bar of execution, as pardon, diversity of person, &c.—Collateral security, security for the performance of covenants, or the payment of money, besides the principal security.