by

• bye (archaic for preposition and adverb, not used for abbreviation, preferred for noun and interjection)

From Middle English by, bi, from Old English bī (“by; near; around”), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near; by; around; about”). Cognate with West Frisian by (“by; near”), Afrikaans by (“at; by; near”), Saterland Frisian bie (“near; by”), Dutch bij (“near; by”), German Low German bi (“by; near; at”), German bei (“by; near; at”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /baɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: bi, bye, buy

by

1. Near or next to.

   The mailbox is by the bus stop.

2. At some time before (the given time), or before the end of a given time interval.

   Be back by ten o'clock!  We will send it by the first week of July.

3. Indicates the actor in a clause with its verb in the passive voice: Through the action or presence of.

   The matter was decided by the chairman.  The boat was swamped by the water.  He was protected by his body armour.

   • 2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:

     Valencia threatened sporadically in the first half with Miguel having a decent effort deflected wide by Ashley Cole, while Jordi Alba's near-post cross was flicked into the sidenetting by Pablo Hernandez.

4. Indicates the creator of a work: Existing through the authorship etc. of.

   There are many well-known plays by William Shakespeare

5. Indicates the cause of a condition or event: Through the action of, caused by, responsibility for; by dint of.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, 2005 Barnes & Noble Classics publication of 1912 Wessex edition, p.109:

     In other directions the fields and sky were so much of one colour by the snow that it was difficult in a hasty glance to tell whereabouts the horizon occurred […].

6. Indicates a means: Involving/using the means of.

   I avoided the guards by moving only when they weren't looking.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620:

     "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. […]"

7. Indicates a source of light used as illumination.

   The electricity was cut off, so we had to read by candlelight.

   • 1945, Neva L. Boyd, Handbook of Recreational Games, 1975 Dover edition, →ISBN, p.16:

     Players: Can we get there by candlelight? ¶ Gatekeepers: Yes and back again.

   • 1960, Dr. Seuss, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

     By the light of the moon, / by the light of a star / they walked all night

8. Indicates an authority, rule, or permission followed.

   I sorted the items by category.  By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.

9. Indicates the amount of some progression: With a change of.

   Our stock is up by ten percent.

10. In the formulae X by X and by Xs, indicates a steady progression, one X after another.

    We went through the book page by page.  We crawled forward by inches.

11. Indicates a referenced source: According to.

    He cheated by his own admission.

12. Indicates an oath: With the authority of.

    By Jove! I think she's got it!  By all that is holy, I'll put an end to this.

    • 1596-99, Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act V, scene i:

      By yonder moon I swear you do me wrong

    • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

      'By my soul! I believe something bad has happened me,' he muttered, and popped up his window, and looked out, half dreaming over the church-yard on the park beyond […]

13. Used to separate dimensions when describing the size of something.

    It is easy to invert a 2-by-2 matrix.  The room was about 4 foot by 6 foot.  The bricks used to build the wall measured 10 by 20 by 30 cm.

14. (horse breeding) Designates a horse's male parent (sire); cf. out of.

    She's a lovely little filly, by Big Lad, out of Damsel in Distress.

by (not comparable)

1. Along a path which runs by the speaker.

   I watched as it passed by.

2. In the vicinity, near.

   There was a shepherd close by.

   The shop is hard by the High Street.

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in Heart of Darkness:

     [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]

3. To or at a place, as a residence or place of business.

   I'll stop by on my way home from work.

   We're right near the lifeguard station. Come by before you leave.

4. Aside, away.

   The women spent much time after harvest putting jams by for winter and spring.

by (not comparable)

1. Out of the way, subsidiary.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

• main, principal

• bypass
• byroad
• bystander
• byway

by (plural bys)

1. (card games) A pass

by

1. Alternative spelling of bye

• yb

• IPA^(key): /bəi/, [bə̟i̯]

From Dutch bij, from Middle Dutch bi, from Old Dutch bī.

by

1. at
2. to
3. by

From Dutch bij, from Middle Dutch bie, from Old Dutch *bīa.

by (plural bye)

1. bee

• heuningby
• hommelby

• IPA^(key): /bɪ/

• Audio

  (file)

by

1. third-person singular conditional subjunctive of být; would

   Vstával by dřív, ale to by si napřed musel koupit budík.

   He would be getting up earlier, but then he would have to buy an alarm clock first.

2. (clipping, informal); would

   Byl by tam šel, kdyby mě byli pozvali.

   I would have gone there if they had invited me.

   My by tam šli, kdyby nás byli pozvali.

   We would have gone there if they had invited us.

• In formal language, it is used for the the third person of the infinitive být, both singular and plural and with the second person of the verb být.

  Zahrál by sis jednu hru?

  Would you [like to] play one game?

• In colloquial Czech, by is commonly used in place of other conditional forms of být in both singular and plural if the subject it deducible from context (from the conjugated form of the verb). That is, by is a shared shorthand for bych, bys, bychom and byste.

• aby
• bych
• bychom
• bys
• byste
• kdyby

From Old Norse býr (“settlement”). Related to the element -by in English place names, such as Whitby.

• IPA^(key): /byː/, [b̥yːˀ]

by c (singular definite byen, plural indefinite byer)

1. town, city

Borrowed from English by.

• IPA^(key): [ba̠i]

by (katakana バイ, rōmaji bai)

1. (informal) Used to sign off a message/attribute a text.
   • 2002,

     ココにはバッファから生成したMAPのTEXTURE希望　by JAMAD

   • 2007, 『さよなら絶望先生』 第5話

     己を知らされば、戦う毎に必ず殆し。by 孫子

   • 2009, 『けいおん！』 第4話

     めざせ武道館！！　by 軽音部！

• IPA^(key): [bɨ]

by (defective, invariable)

1. would (used with the past active participle to form a conditional)

   Njecynimy to, dokulaž by jim škóźeło.

   We don’t do that because it would hurt them.

This verb may be omitted before the past active participles of móc (“be able to”), kśěś (“want to”), and dejaś (“ought to”).

• aby (“that...would”)
• gaby (“if...would”)
• gdyby (“if...would”)
• njeby (“would not”)

• b'
• b-

by (triggers lenition)

1. Past and conditional form of s'

   By vie lhiam goll myrgeddin.

   I want to go as well.

   B'laik lhiam briaght jiu c'red bare lhiu jannoo jiu.

   I'd like to ask you what you'd prefer to do today.

2. (dated) Past and conditional form of s' (used to introduce the comparative and superlative form of adjectives)

   yn dooinney by hroshey ― the man who was the strongest

by

1. be

• IPA^(key): /byː/, [byː]

From Old Norse býr (“place (to camp or settle), land, property, lot; and later settlement”).

by m (definite singular byen, indefinite plural byer, definite plural byene)

1. town, city (regardless of population size or land area)

From byde, from Old Norse bjóða, from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (“to offer”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to wake, rise up”).

• byde

by (imperative by, present tense byr, simple past bød or bøy or bydde, past participle budt or bydd)

1. to bid; offer
2. to ask; invite
3. to command; order

• “by” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /byː/

From Old Norse býr (“place (to camp or settle), land, property, lot; and later settlement”).

by m (definite singular byen, indefinite plural byar, definite plural byane)

1. town, city (regardless of population size or land area)

From Old Norse bjóða, from Proto-Germanic *beudaną (“to offer”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- (“to wake, rise up”). Akin to English bid

• byde
• byda

by (present tense byr, past tense baud or bydde, past participle bode or bydd or bydt, present participle bydande, imperative by)

1. to command, order

   Eg byd deg å stoppe.

   I command you to stop.

2. to bid, offer

   Eg byd deg 100 kroner.

   I offer you a 100 NOK.

3. to offer

   Bestemor baud på småkaker.

   Granny offered us cookies.

• “by” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /bɨ/

• Audio

  (file)

by

1. (always before a verb) a particle used to make conditional mood; would, should

   On by tam nie poszedł. = On nie poszedłby tam. — He would not go there.

• -by (suffix)

by

1. in order to, so that

• aby, żeby

• by in Polish dictionaries at PWN

From Old Norse býr (“place (to camp or settle), land, property, lot; and later settlement”).

• audio

  (file)

by c

1. village
2. (obsolete) farm
3. gust, rush of wind

(village):

(breeze):

• byig
• bymoln
• kastby
• regnby
• stormby

• by in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)

• (Clay) IPA^(key): /bɛi̯/
• (Wood) IPA^(key): /bi/

by

1. near to
2. in relation to

   By âlds

   In the olden days

• “by”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011