by

See also: BY, bý, by-, by., -by, .by, and b'y

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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-Germanic *bi (“near; by; around; about”). 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) enPR: bī, IPA(key): /baɪ/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Audio
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophones: bi, bye, buy

Preposition

by

  1. Near or next to.
    The mailbox is by the bus stop.
  2. At some time before (the given time), or before the end of (the given time interval).
    Be back by ten o'clock!.
    We will send it by the first week of July.
    We'll find someone by the end of March.
  3. Indicates the actor in a clause with its verb in the passive voice: Through the action or presence of.
    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.
  4. Indicates the creator of a work: Existing through the authorship etc. of.
    There are many well-known plays by William Shakespeare
  5. Indicates the cause of a condition or event: Through the action of; caused by; by dint of.
    • 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 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 hippopotamus.
    • 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 491297620:
      "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. […]"
  7. Indicates a source of light used as illumination.
    The electricity was cut off, so we had to read by candlelight.
  9. Indicates an authority by which something is done.
    By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife.
  10. 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.
    • 1596-99, Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 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 […]
  11. Indicates a means of classification or organisation.
    I sorted the items by category.
  12. Indicates the amount of some progression: With a change of.
    Our stock is up by ten percent.
  13. 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.
  14. Indicates a referenced source: According to.
    He cheated by his own admission.
    • 1722, William Wollaston, “Sect. V. Truths relating to the Deity. Of his exiſtence, perfection, providence, &c.”, in The Religion of Nature Delineated‎[1], 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.
  15. 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.
  16. (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.

Derived terms

Terms derived from by (preposition)

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

by (not comparable)

  1. Along a path which runs by the speaker.
    I watched as it passed by.
  2. In the vicinity, near.
    There was a shepherd close by.
    The shop is hard by the High Street.
  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. Aside, away.
    The women spent much time after harvest putting jams by for winter and spring.

Derived terms

terms derived from by (adverb)

Translations

Adjective

by (not comparable)

  1. Out of the way, subsidiary.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Antonyms

Derived terms

Noun

by (plural bies)

  1. Alternative form of bye

Interjection

by

  1. Alternative spelling of bye

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Preposition

by

  1. at
  2. to
  3. by

Etymology 2

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

Noun

by (plural bye)

  1. bee
Derived terms

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɪ/
  • Audio
    		(file)

Particle

by

  1. third-person singular conditional subjunctive 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.

Usage notes

  • In formal language, it is used for the third person of the infinitive být, both singular and plural and with the second person of the verb být.
    Zahrál by sis jednu hru?
    Would you [like to] play one game?
  • In colloquial Czech, by is commonly used in place of other conditional forms of být in both singular and plural if the subject is deducible from context (from the conjugated form of the verb). That is, by is a shared shorthand for bych, bys, bychom and byste.

Related terms

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse býr (“settlement”). Related to the element -by in English place names, such as Whitby.

Pronunciation

Noun

by c (singular definite byen, plural indefinite byer)

  1. town, city

Inflection

Declension of by
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative by byen byer byerne
genitive bys byens byers byernes

Related terms

→

Japanese

Etymology

Borrowed from English by.

Pronunciation

Particle

by(バイ) • (bai) 

  1. (informal) Used to sign off a message/attribute a text.
    • 2002, [2]
      ココにはバッファから生成したMAPのTEXTURE希望　by JAMAD
    • 2007, 『さよなら絶望先生』 第5話[3]
      己を知らされば、戦う毎に必ず殆し。by 孫子
    • 2009, 『けいおん！』 第4話[4]
      めざせ武道館！！　by 軽音部！

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

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.

Usage notes

This verb may be omitted before the past active participles of móc (“be able to”), kśěś (“want to”), and dejaś (“ought to”).

Derived terms

  • aby (“that...would”)
  • gaby (“if...would”)
  • gdyby (“if...would”)
  • njeby (“would not”)

Further reading

  • by in Ernst Muka/Mucke (St. Petersburg and Prague 1911–28): Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow / Wörterbuch der nieder-wendischen Sprache und ihrer Dialekte. Reprinted 2008, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.
  • by in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

Manx

Alternative forms

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

Middle English

Verb

by

  1. be

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Noun

by m (definite singular byen, indefinite plural byer, definite plural byene)

  1. town, city (regardless of population size or land area)
Derived terms
Terms derived from by

Etymology 2

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

Alternative forms

Verb

by (imperative by, present tense byr, simple past bød or bøy or bydde, past participle budt or bydd)

  1. to bid; offer
  2. to ask; invite
  3. to command; order

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Noun

by m (definite singular byen, indefinite plural byar, definite plural byane)

  1. town, city (regardless of population size or land area)
Derived terms
Terms derived from by

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

Alternative forms

Verb

by (present tense byr, past tense baud or bydde, past participle bode or bydd or bydt, present participle bydande, imperative by)

  1. to command, order
    Eg byd deg å stoppe.
    I command you to stop.
  2. to bid, offer
    Eg byd deg 100 kroner.
    I offer you a 100 NOK.
  3. to offer
    Bestemor baud på småkaker.
    Granny offered us cookies.

References

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɨ/
  • Audio
    		(file)

Particle

by

  1. (always before a verb) a particle used to make conditional mood; would, should
    On by tam nie poszedł. = On nie poszedłby tam. — He would not go there.
singular plural
1st person bym byśmy
2nd person byś byście
3rd person by by

Synonyms

Conjunction

by

  1. in order to, so that

Synonyms

Further reading

  • by in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • by in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Pronunciation

  • audio
    		(file)

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish bȳr, bȳ (“village, farm, town”), from Old Norse býr. Cognate with Danish by (“town, city”, whence also Faroese býur with the same meaning), Norwegian Bokmål by (“town, city”) and Norwegian Nynorsk by (“town, city”).

Noun

by c

  1. village
  2. (obsolete) farm
  3. (obsolete) town, city

Declension

Declension of by 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative by byn byar byarna
Genitive bys byns byars byarnas

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Dutch bui or Low German bö, böe, böje. Cognate with Danish byge, Norwegian Bokmål byge, bøye and Norwegian Nynorsk bye, bøye.

Noun

by c

  1. gust, rush of wind

Declension

Declension of by 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative by byn byar byarna
Genitive bys byns byars byarnas

Derived terms

References

  • by in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
  • by in Nationalencyklopedin (needs an authorization fee).

West Frisian

Pronunciation

Preposition

by

  1. near to
  2. in relation to
    By âlds
    In the olden days

Further reading

  • “by”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

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