By
[baɪ]
Definition
(adv.) so as to pass a given point; 'every hour a train goes past'.
Typist: Toni--From WordNet
Definition
(pref.) In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from; close to; along with; as, come and sit by me.
(pref.) On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
(pref.) Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side of; past; as, to go by a church.
(pref.) Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty feet by forty.
(pref.) Against.
(pref.) With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take by force.
(adv.) Near; in the neighborhood; present; as, there was no person by at the time.
(adv.) Passing near; going past; past; beyond; as, the procession has gone by; a bird flew by.
(adv.) Aside; as, to lay by; to put by.
(a.) Out of the common path; aside; -- used in composition, giving the meaning of something aside, secondary, or incidental, or collateral matter, a thing private or avoiding notice; as, by-line, by-place, by-play, by-street. It was formerly more freely used in composition than it is now; as, by-business, by-concernment, by-design, by-interest, etc.
Checker: Valerie
Synonyms and Synonymous
prep. [1]. Through (as the cause, or the remote agent), WITH, by the agency of, by means of, by dint of.[2]. At, on, by way of.[3]. From, according to.[4]. Near to, close by.[5]. Past.[6]. Along, over.
ad. Near.
Inputed by Gerard
Definition
prep. at the side of: near to: through denoting the agent cause means &c.—adv. near: passing near: in presence of: aside away.—adv. By′-and-by soon presently.—ns. By′-blow a side blow: an illegitimate child; By′-cor′ner an out-of-the-way place; By′-drink′ing (Shak.) drinking between meals; By′-elec′tion a parliamentary election during the sitting of parliament: By′-end a subsidiary aim; By′-form a form of a word slightly varying from it; By′-gō′ing the action of passing by esp. In the by-going.—adj. By′gone.—ns. By′-lane a side lane or passage out of the common road; By′-mō′tive an unavowed motive; By′name a nickname; By′-pass′age a side passage.—adj. By′-past (Shak.) past: gone by.—ns. By′path a side path; By′-place a retired place; By′play a scene carried on subordinate to and apart from the main part of the play; By′-prō′duct an accessory product resulting from some specific process or manufacture; By′road a retired side road; By′room (Shak.) a side or private room; By′-speech a casual speech; By′stander one who stands by or near one—hence a looker-on; By′-street an obscure street; By′-thing a thing of minor importance; By′-time leisure time; By′way a private and obscure way; By′word a common saying: a proverb: an object of common derision; By′work work for leisure hours.—By-the-by By the way in passing.—Let bygones be bygones let the past alone.
n. anything of minor importance a side issue a thing not directly aimed at: the condition of being odd as opposed to even the state of being left without a competitor as in tennis &c.: in cricket a run stolen by the batsman on the ball passing the wicket-keeper and long-stop the batsman not having struck the ball.—By-the-bye or -by incidentally by the way.
Editor: Megan
Examples
- Being merely sheltered by others would not promote growth. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- How we shall conciliate this little creature, said Mrs. Bretton to me, I don't know: she tastes nothing, and by her looks, she has not slept. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The Unquenchables had done their best to be worthy of the name, for like elves they had worked by night and conjured up a comical surprise. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- They have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding against other stones, they form into instruments, that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- His labors, however, were interrupt ed by the death of his assistant Flemming, and by his own illness, which proved fatal in 1846, a few months before the actual discovery of Neptune. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Wiley is another case of the creative mind harassed by the routineers. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I believe that he would have come all the way had it not been that Dr. Ferrier, who lives near me, was going down by that very train. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Sixteen shillings sterling, we are told by Mr Byron, was the price of a good horse in the capital of Chili. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- By all which acquirements, I should be a living treasure of knowledge and wisdom, and certainly become the oracle of the nation. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- The grate might have been the old brazier, and the glow might have been the old hollow down by the flare. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The first known application of the kind was made by Mr. Murdoch, an engineer in the employment of Messrs. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Yes, but such care could have been furnished by any one of us. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- The lad only answered by turning his cynical young face, half-arch, half-truculent, towards the paternal chair. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- He took my chin in his large hand and turned up my face to have a look at me by the light of the candle. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- The palliative measures we may pass by quickly. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Her lover was no longer to her an exciting man whom many women strove for, and herself could only retain by striving with them. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The heart was thrilled, the mind astonished, by the power of the preacher: neither were softened. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- As he extended his hand with a magnificently forgiving air, and as I was broken by illness and unfit to quarrel, I took it. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Often, indeed, when pressed by Hortense to come, she would refuse, because Robert did not second, or but slightly seconded the request. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- In speaking of education Plato rather startles us by affirming that a child must be trained in falsehood first and in truth afterwards. Plato. The Republic.
- This was done with effect, as is proved by the Confederate reports. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Some weeks of spare time were at my disposal, before I entered on my functions by establishing myself in the suburbs of London. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- A genius usually becomes the luminous center of a nation's crisis,--men see better by the light of him. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- We can here consider only a few cases; of these, some of the most difficult to explain are presented by fish. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- It would seem to be always the same question, for, it is always followed by a press of people towards the third cart. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Such is the process by which the youth passes from the necessary pleasures to the unnecessary. Plato. The Republic.
- It will by no means follow, however, that the real exchange was against it. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- By only raising my voice, and saying any thing two or three times over, she is sure to hear; but then she is used to my voice. Jane Austen. Emma.
- And he had hardly looked up, to see what the matter was, when he was stopped by having a pair of arms thrown tight round his neck. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- I am to understand, then, that you hold by the determination expressed in your letter? Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
Editor: Megan