Definition of "by the way"
prepositional phrase (conjunctive, idiomatic) Incidentally ; used in referencing a parenthetical statement not timely , central , or crucial to the topic at hand ; foregone , passed by , something that has already happened . quotations examples
Quotations […] I had counted on a life -lease of the profits , whereas I only received those of a few short years . But this is by the way
1853, Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener, in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin Books, 1968; reprint 1995 as Bartleby, ISBN 0 14 60.0012 9, p.2
“A very welcome , kind , useful present , that means to the parish . By the way Hopkins , let this go no further . We don 't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived . Churchill , my dear fellow , we have such greedy sharks , and wolves in lamb 's clothing . […]”
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company