A light meal is laid out at midnight (5)
I believe the answer is:
gleam
'a light' is the definition.
(I have seen 'brief light' mean 'gleam' so perhaps 'light' could also mean 'gleam')
'meal is laid out at midnight' is the wordplay.
'is laid out' indicates an anagram.
'at' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'midnight' becomes 'g' (the middle letter in 'night').
'meal' with letters rearranged gives 'leam'.
'leam' after 'g' is 'GLEAM'.
(Other definitions for gleam that I've seen before include "Beam of soft light, comes and goes" , "Look in the eye" , "Glimmer, lustre" , "Glint" , "Brief bright light" .)