by
/baɪ/ preposition, adverb, adjective, proper noun
Forms bys bye
- preposition Near or next to. “The mailbox is by the bus stop.”
- preposition From one side of something to the other, passing close by; past. “The stream runs by our back door.”
- preposition Not later than (the given time); not later than the end of (the given time interval); before. “Be back by ten o'clock!”
- preposition After a given amount of time has elapsed or a given event has occurred. “By February, we were all sick of the cold.”
- preposition Following a passive verb. “The matter was decided by the chairman.”
- preposition Following a noun.
- preposition (not in common modern use) Following an adjective.
- preposition Indicates the creator of a work: Existing through the authorship etc. of. “There are many well-known plays by William Shakespeare”
- adverb Along a path which runs past someone or something. “I watched the parade as it passed by.”
- adverb In the vicinity, near. “There was a shepherd close by.”
- adverb To or at a place, as a residence or place of business. “I'll stop by on my way home from work.”
- adverb (uncommon outside the phrase 'put by') Aside, away. “The women spent much time after harvest putting jams by for winter and spring.”
- adverb (uncommon except in set phrases) Beyond or past a certain point. “I'll somehow manage to get by.”
- adjective Out of the way, off to one side. “a by path; a by room”
- adjective Subsidiary, incidental. “by catch; a by issue”
- proper noun (rail transport) The station code of Byculla railway station in India.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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”).
From the preposition by.
Webster’s 1913
- preposition In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from; close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them both. Milton.
- preposition On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
- adverb Near; in the neighborhood; present; as, there was no person by at the time.
- adverb Passing near; going past; past; beyond; as, the procession has gone by; a bird flew by.
Etymology [OE. bi, AS. bi, big, near to, by, of, from, after, according to; akin to OS.& OFries. bi, be, D. bij, OHG. bi, G. bie, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr.. E. prefix be- is orig.the same word. pref. Be-.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “by”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details