By

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[imac], big, near to, by,
     of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
     D. bij, OHG. b[imac], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`.
     E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref.
     {Be-}.]
     1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from;


        close to; along with; as, come and sit by me.
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              By foundation or by shady rivulet
              He sought them both.                  --Milton.
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     2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
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              Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.
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              By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.
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     3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
        of; past; as, to go by a church.
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     4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
        feet by forty.
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     5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].
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     6. 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.
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     Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency,
           belong, more or less closely, most of the following
           uses of the word:
        (a) It points out the author and producer; as, "Waverley",
            a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by Canova; a sonata
            by Beethoven.
        (b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or
            thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by
            all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a
            Christian; no, by Heaven.
        (c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of;
            after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his
            account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a
            model to build by.
        (d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion
            of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth
            by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen,
            meat by the pound; to board by the year.
        (e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or
            deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished,
            it indicates the measure of increase or diminution;
            as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen
            by a third.
        (f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the
            course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night.
        (g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in
            expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had
            risen; he will be here by two o'clock.
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     Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to,
           or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east,
           i.e., a point towards the east from the north;
           northeast by east, i.e., on point nearer the east than
           northeast is.
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     Note: With is used instead of by before the instrument with
           which anything is done; as, to beat one with a stick;
           the board was fastened by the carpenter with nails. But
           there are many words which may be regarded as means or
           processes, or, figuratively, as instruments; and
           whether with or by shall be used with them is a matter
           of arbitrary, and often, of unsettled usage; as, to a
           reduce a town by famine; to consume stubble with fire;
           he gained his purpose by flattery; he entertained them
           with a story; he distressed us with or by a recital of
           his sufferings. see {With}.
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     {By all means}, most assuredly; without fail; certainly.
  
     {By and by}.
        (a) Close together (of place). [Obs.] "Two yonge knightes
            liggyng [lying] by and by." --Chaucer.
        (b) Immediately; at once. [Obs.] "When . . . persecution
            ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
            offended." --Matt. xiii. 21.
        (c) Presently; pretty soon; before long.
  
     Note: In this phrase, by seems to be used in the sense of
           nearness in time, and to be repeated for the sake of
           emphasis, and thus to be equivalent to "soon, and
           soon," that is instantly; hence, -- less emphatically,
           -- pretty soon, presently.
  
     {By one's self}, with only one's self near; alone; solitary.
  
     {By the bye}. See under {Bye}.
  
     {By the head} (Naut.), having the bows lower than the stern;
        -- said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water
        than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is by the
        stern.
  
     {By the lee}, the situation of a vessel, going free, when she
        has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her
        stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.
  
     {By the run}, to let go by the run, to let go altogether,
        instead of slacking off.
  
     {By the way}, by the bye; -- used to introduce an incidental
        or secondary remark or subject. 
  
     {Day by day}, {One by one}, {Piece by piece}, etc., each day,
        each one, each piece, etc., by itself singly or
        separately; each severally.
  
     {To come by}, to get possession of; to obtain.
  
     {To do by}, to treat, to behave toward.
  
     {To set by}, to value, to esteem.
  
     {To stand by}, to aid, to support.
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     Note: The common phrase good-by is equivalent to farewell,
           and would be better written good-bye, as it is a
           corruption of God be with you (b'w'ye).
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  By \By\ (b[imac]), adv.
     1. Near; in the neighborhood; present; as, there was no
        person by at the time.
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     2. Passing near; going past; past; beyond; as, the procession
        has gone by; a bird flew by.
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     3. Aside; as, to lay by; to put by.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  By \By\ (b[imac]), 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.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  by
       adv 1: so as to pass a given point; "every hour a train goes past"
              [syn: {past}]
       2: in reserve; not for immediate use; "started setting aside
          money to buy a car"; "put something by for her old age";
          "has a nestegg tucked away for a rainy day" [syn: {aside},
           {away}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  77 Moby Thesaurus words for "by":
     abeam, abreast, accommodated to, according to, adapted to, adieu,
     adjusted to, after, agreeable to, agreeably to, all through,
     along by, alongside, among, answerable to, around, as to, aside,
     at, back, beside, by dint of, by means of, by use of, by virtue of,
     by way of, bye-bye, conformable to, congruent with,
     consistent with, farewell, from, good-bye, hereby, herewith, in,
     in accordance with, in agreement with, in compliance with,
     in conformity with, in correspondence to, in harmony with,
     in keeping with, in line with, in lock-step with, in obedience to,
     in reserve, in step with, in uniformity with, in virtue of, near,
     nearby, next to, nigh, on, over, passing by, passing through, per,
     proper to, round, round about, so long, suitable for, thanks to,
     thereby, therewith, through, to, toward, uniform with, upon, via,
     whereby, wherewith, wherewithal, with
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  by
       
           The {country code} for Belarus.
       
          (1999-01-27)
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  By
     in the expression "by myself" (A.V., 1 Cor. 4:4), means, as
     rendered in the Revised Version, "against myself."