Link Centre Dictionary

by

UK/baɪ/ US/ˈbaɪ/ very common

adverb

1.

so as to pass a given point

  • “every hour a train goes past”
Synonyms
2.

in reserve; not for immediate use

  • “started setting aside money to buy a car”
  • “put something by for her old age”
  • “has a nest egg tucked away for a rainy day”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • bit by bit
  • by and by
  • by and large
  • by day
  • by degrees
  • by dint of
  • by God
  • by golly
  • English terms prefixed with by-

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.