Near; close to; beside; with; about: as, sit by me; the house stands by a river.Near, or up to and beyond, with reference to motion; past: as, to move or go by a church.Along (in direction or progress); in or through (the course of); over or alongside of: as, to approach a town by the highway.On; upon; especially, through or on as a means of conveyance: as, he journeyed both by water and by rail.Through. Through the action or operation of, as the immediate agent or the producing or instigating cause: as, the empire founded by Napoleon; a novel written by Cooper; the victories gained by Nelson; a picture painted by Rubens.With the perception of, as the subject or recipient of the action or feeling: as, he died regretted by all who knew him; this was felt by them to be an intentional slight. Through the means or agency of, as the intermediate agent or instrument: as, the city was destroyed by fire.Through the use of; with the aid of, as means: as, to take by force; by your leave.In consequence of; by virtue of.In adjuration: Before; in the presence of; with the witness of; with regard to things, in view of, in consideration of: followed by the name of the being or thing appealed to as sanction: as, I appeal to you by all that is sacred.According to; by direction, authority, example, or evidence of: as, this appears by his own account; it is ten o'clock by my watch; these are good rules to live by.In the measure or quantity of; in the terms of: as, to sell cloth by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen, beef by the pound; to board by the week.In comparison: To the extent of: noting mensuration or the measure or ratio of excess or inferiority: as, largerby a half; older by five years; to lessen by a third.Multiplied into: noting the relation of one dimension to another (in square or cubic measure): as, five feet by four, that is, measuring five feet in one direction and four feet in the other.During the course of; within the compass or period of: as, by day; by night.At (a terminal point of time); not later than; as early as: as, by this time the sun had risen; he will be here by two o'clock.At a time; each separately or singly: as, one by one; two by two; piece by piece.With reference to; in relation to; about; concerning; with: formerly especially after say, speak, etc., now chiefly after do, act, deal, etc.Besides; over and above; beyond.Without aid; by individual action exclusively: as, I did it all by myself.[The adverbial use is not found in AS., and is rare in ME.] Near; in the same place with; at hand: often (before the verb always) qualified by a more definite adverb; as, near by; close by; hard by.Aside; off.Of motion: Across in front or alongside and beyond: as, the carriage went by.Of time: In the past; over.At once; straightway; immediately; then.At some time in the future; before long; presently.n. A thing not directly aimed at; something not the immediate object of regard: as, by the by (that is, by the way, in passing).n. The condition of being odd, as opposed to even; the state of having no competitor in a contest where several are engaged in pairs.n. In cricket, a run made on a ball not struck by the batsman, but which the wicket-keeper has failed to stop.n. In the game of hide-and-seek, the goal: as, to touch the by.n. A town; habitation; dwelling: now extant only in place-names, especially in the north of England, as in Derby (Anglo-Saxon Deóra bȳ, literally ‘dwelling of deer’), Whitby, etc.n. A ring; a bracelet.An obsolete spelling of buy.An obsolete variant of be.An obsolete variant of bi-, be- (unaccented). See be-.The modern form of bi-, be-, under the accent, as in byspell, byword, etc.An obsolete variant of bi-, be-.The adverb by used as a prefix.
