by

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle English by, bi, from Old English bī (“by; near; around”), from Proto-West Germanic *bī, from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near; by; around; about”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi.

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada) enPR: bī, IPA^(key): /baɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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

Preposition

by

1. Near or next to.

   The mailbox is by the bus stop.

2. From one side of something to the other, passing close by; past.

   The stream runs by our back door.

   He ran straight by me.

3. Not later than (the given time); not later than the end of (the given time interval).

   Be back by ten o'clock!.

   We'll find someone by the end of March.

   We will send it by the first week of July.

5. Indicates the person or thing that does or causes something: Through the action or presence of.
   1. Following a passive verb.

      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.

   2. Following a noun.

      There was a call by the unions for a 30% pay rise.

   3. (not in common modern use) Following an adjective.

      I was aghast by what I saw.

      • 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 the creator of a work: Existing through the authorship etc. of.

   There are many well-known plays by William Shakespeare

7. Indicates a means of achieving something: Involving/using the means of.

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

   By Pythagoras' theorem, we can calculate the length of the hypotenuse.

   We went by bus.

   I discovered it by chance.

   By 'maybe' she means 'no'.

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

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

     "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. […]"

   • 1945, Neva L. Boyd, Handbook of Recreational Games, Dover, published 1975, →ISBN, page 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

9. Indicates an authority according to which something is done.

   By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.

   1. Invokes an authority in an oath.

      By Jove! I think she's got it!

      By all that is holy, I'll put an end to this.

      • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [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 […]

10. Indicates a means of classification or organisation.

    I sorted the items by category.

    Table 1 shows details of our employees broken down by sex and age.

11. Indicates the amount of change, difference or discrepancy

    Our stock is up by ten percent.

    His date of birth was wrong by ten years.

12. 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.

13. (with the) Acted on in units of the specified size or measure. (Sometimes hyperbolically)

    sold by the yard; cheaper if bought by the gross

    While sitting listening to the radio by the hour, she can drink brandy by the bucketful!

    He sits listening to the radio by the hour.

14. Per; with or in proportion to each.

    His health was deteriorating by the day.

    The pickers are paid by the bushel.

15. Indicates a referenced source: According to.

    He cheated by his own admission.

    By my reckoning, we should be nearly there.

    • 1722, William Wollaston, “Sect. V. Truths relating to the Deity. Of his exiſtence, perfection, providence, &c.”, in The Religion of Nature Delineated‎, page 81:

      Ignorant and ſuperſtitious wretches meaſure the actions of letterd and philoſophical men by the tattle of their nurſes or illiterate parents and companions, or by the faſhion of the country : and people of differing religions judge and condemn each other by their own tenents ; when both of them cannot be in the right, and it is well if either of them are.

16. 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.

17. (mathematics) multiplied by or (chiefly South Asia) divided by
18. (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.

19. (chiefly Yeshivish) At, with, among

    Are you eating by Rabbi Fischer? (at the house of)

    By Chabad, it's different. (with, among)

Adverb

by (not comparable)

1. Along a path which runs past someone or something.

   I watched the parade as it passed by.

2. In the vicinity, near.

   There was a shepherd close by.

   • 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:

     [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. (uncommon outside the phrase 'put by') Aside, away.

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

Adjective

by (not comparable)

1. Out of the way, off to one side.

   a by path; a by room

2. Subsidiary, incidental.

   by catch; a by issue

Noun

by (plural bys)

1. Alternative form of bye.

Interjection

by

1. Dated form of bye (“goodbye”).

Anagrams

• YB, Yb, yb

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəi/, [bə̟i̯]

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

• BY

Etymology

Semantic shift from English by.

Pronunciation

Preposition

by

1. (informal) according to

   by某市長本人所説 [MSC, trad.]
   by某市长本人所说 [MSC, simp.]

   bāi mǒu shìzhǎng běnrén suǒ shuō [Pinyin]

   according to what I, the mayor, myself, said

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech by, from Proto-Slavic *by.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɪ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Particle

by

1. third-person singular/plural conditional 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.

Further reading

• “by”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “by”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Etymology

From Old Norse býr, bœr (settlement).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥yˀ]

Noun

by c (singular definite byen, plural indefinite byer)

1. town, city

Preposition

by

1. Obsolete spelling of bij.

Adverb

by

1. Obsolete spelling of bij.

Adjective

by (used only predicatively, not comparable)

1. Obsolete spelling of bij.

Noun

by f (plural byen, diminutive bytje n)

1. Obsolete spelling of bij.

Etymology

Borrowed from English by.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ba̠i]

Particle

by(バイ) • (bai) 

1. (informal) Used to sign off a message/attribute a text.
   • 2002, Super Monkey Ball 2‎, scene: debugging test level:

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

     "I want the texture of the MAP generated from the buffer here" — JAMAD

   • 2007, chapter 5, in さよなら絶望先生 [Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei]‎:

     己を知らされば、戦う毎に必ず殆し。by 孫子

     "If one is ignorant of oneself, one is bound to be in danger with every battle" — Sun Tzu

   • 2009, chapter 4, in けいおん！ [K-ON!]:

     めざせ武道館！！　by 軽音部！

     "Aim for the Budokan!" — Light Music Club

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *by (third-person singular aorist of *byti).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bɨ]

Verb

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.

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “by”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “by”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Alternative forms

• b'
• b-

Particle

by (triggers lenition)

1. past/conditional 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

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English bī, from Proto-West Germanic *bī, from Proto-Germanic *bi, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byː/, [byː]

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

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

References

• “by” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /byː/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse býr m, from Proto-Germanic *būwiz. Doublet of bø.

Etymology 2

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

References

• “by” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “by” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *by.

Conjunction

by

1. second/third-person singular aorist of býti

   Synonym: bě

2. Introduces a clause two which the speaker has reservations or uncertainty.
3. Especially with a negated verb; expresses concern.
4. Introduces a clause of intention; in order to; would that
5. Especially after a negated verb; expresses that the viewer sees something as unrealistic.
6. Forms a conditional; would
7. Admissive; albeit, although

References

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “by”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Noun

bȳ n

1. dwelling, habituation

References

• Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “bý”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /bi/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /bi/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *by. First attested in the 14th century.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

References

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “by”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
• Sławski, Franciszek (1958-1965) “by”, in Jan Safarewicz, Andrzej Siudut, editors, Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego [Etymological dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), Kraków: Towarzystwo Miłośników Języka Polskiego
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “by”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “by”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN