From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishon the sideon the sidea) AND/ALSOused to say that someone does work in addition to their regular job Most consultants do private work on the side. → sideline1(1) b) SECRETsecretly, and dishonestly or illegally His wife discovered that he had a woman on the side. → a bit on the side at bit3 c) DFfood that is served on the side is ordered with the main dish in a restaurant, but is not usually part of that dish I’d like eggs with toast on the side. → side
Examples from the Corpus
on the side• They run a catering business on the side.• The blueberry pie came with a mound of whipped cream on the side.• The ward cars were converted from open parcel vans, already provided with sliding doors on the sides and ends.• Having contemplated the pro's and con's Darwin came down on the side in favour of marriage.• In such cases, tests show that only the ear on the side of the blue eye is deaf.• The Roosevelt administration, however, was emphatically on the side of the Bureau of Reclamation.• He sometimes does a bit of gardening on the side when he is short of money.• In this, Clinton is on the side of public health and Dole on the side of the status quo.• It is difficult to estimate the number of people doing part-time jobs on the side.• She had marks on the side of her face like as if being scratched.• It appeared to have something on the side.• Aphrodite, of course, was on the side of Paris. 