Trivial gossip starts to provide illumination (8)
I believe the answer is:
gaslight
'illumination' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'trivial gossip starts' is the wordplay.
'trivial' becomes 'light' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'gossip' becomes 'gas' (I've seen this before).
'starts' says to put letters next to each other.
'light' after 'gas' is 'GASLIGHT'.
'to provide' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gaslight that I've seen before include "that was illuminating for Fanny" , "Old form of illumination" , "Old film" , "Bergman film" , "Old guide in dark" .)