by 
Two ycmge knightes liggyng by and by. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 153. 
These were his wordis by and by. 
Rom, of the Rose, 1. 4581. 
In the temple, by and by with us, 
These couples shall eternally be knit. 
Shak., M. N. D., iv. 1. 
(M) At once ; straightway ; immediately ; then. 
After that you haue dyned and suptc, laboure not In/ uml 
by after, but make a pause, syttynge or standyuge vpryght 
the space of an howre or more with some pastyme. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 247. 
When . . . persecution ariseth because of the word, by 
and b\i [Or. eu0u, immediately] he is offended. 
Mat. xiii. 21. 
They do, and by-and-by repent them of that which they 
have done. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 237. 
(c) At some time in the future ; before long ; presently. 
I'm so vexed, that if I had not the prospect of a resource 
in being knocked o' the head by and by, I should scarce 
have spirits to tell you the cause. 
Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 3. 
By and large, in all its length and breadth; in every 
aspect : as, taking it by and large, this is the most com- 
prehensive theory yet broached. By and maint, by both 
side and main passages ; on all sides. 
Thou ! no, no, I have barred thee by and main, for I 
have resolved not to light for them. 
Killiffrew, Parson's Wedding, ii. 5. 
Full and by. See /i . 
by 1 , bye 1 (bi), . [< by, prep, and adv.; in older 
use only in the phrases by the by and in, on, or 
upon the by (see def.) ; due to by 1 , adv., in comp. 
by- 3 . In sporting use commonly spelled bye."] 
1. A thing not directly aimed at; something 
not the immediate object of regard : as, by the 
by (that is, by the way, in passing). 2. The 
condition of being odd, as opposed to even; the 
state of having no competitor in a contest 
where several are engaged in pairs. Thus, in 
field trials of dogs, when the number of those entered for 
competition in pairs is uneven, the odd contestant is said 
to have a by. 
3. In cricket, a run made on a ball not struck 
by the batsman, but which the wicket-keeper 
has failed to stop. 4. In the game of hide- 
and-seek, the goal : as, to touch the by. [New 
England.] By the by. (t) Same as in, on, or upon 
the by. (V) By the way : introducing an incidental re- 
mark. 
By the by, I hope 'tis not true that your brother is ab- 
solutely ruined ? Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. 
There is an old tough aunt in the way ; though, by the 
by, she has never seen my master for we got acquainted 
with miss while on a visit in Gloucestershire. 
Sheridan, The Rivals, i. 1. 
In, on, or upon the byt, in passing ; indirectly ; by 
implication. 
It would beget 
Me such a main authority 071 the bye, 
And do yourself no disrepute at all. 
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, i. 1. 
Speak modestly in mentioning my services ; 
And if aught fall out in the by, that must 
Of mere necessity touch any act 
Of my deserving praises, blush when you talk on 't. 
Beau, and Fl. , Laws of Candy, iii. 2. 
The Synod of Dort condemneth upon the bye even the 
discipline of the Church of England. 
Quoted in Fuller's Church Hist., X. v. 1. 
To Steal a by, in criffket, to make a run on a ball which 
has not been batted, but which the wicket-keeper has 
failed to stop. 
He [the batsman] is never in his ground, except when 
his wicket is down. Nothing in the whole game so trying 
to boys ; he has stolen three byes in the first ten minutes. 
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 8. 
by 2 t. . [ME by, bi, < AS. by = Icel. byr, beer, or 
ocer (gen. bagar, byjar) = Norw. bo = Sw. Dan. 
by, a town, village, in Icel. and Norw. also a 
farm, landed estate ; akin to AS. bu = OS. bu 
= Icel. bu = Sw. Dan. bo, a dwelling, habita- 
tion, > So. bow (see bow 5 ), < AS. buan = Icel. 
bua, dwell: see bower 1 , boor, big 2 , be 1 , and cf . 
by-law.] A town; habitation; dwelling: now 
extant only in place-names, especially in the 
north of England, as in Derby (Anglo-Saxon 
DcAra by, literally 'dwelling of deer'), Whitby, 
etc. 
The township, the by of the Northern shires. 
Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. 90. 
by 3 t, n. [Another and more reg. form of bee 2 , 
< ME. bye, byge, beighe, beg, beh, etc., < AS. 
bedh, bedg, a ring : see bee 2 .'] A ring ; a brace- 
let. 
A by of gold, adorning the right arm. Planchi. 
byH, v. An obsolete spelling of buy. 
by 5 t, v. i. An obsolete variant of fee 1 . 
by- 1 . If. An obsolete variant of bi- 1 , be- 1 (un- 
accented). See be- 1 . 2. The modern form of 
bi- 1 , be- 1 , under the accent, as in byspell, byword, 
etc. 
by- 2 t. An obsolete variant of bi- 2 , be- 2 . 
by- 3 . The adverb by 1 used as a prefix. This use 
first appears in the sixteenth century, by- being a quasi- 
742 
adjective, meaning side, secondary, as in by-path, by-street, 
liil mill, by-play, by-stroke, etc. 
by-aimt (Warn), . A side aim ; a subordinate 
aim ; a by-end. 
by-altar (bi'al"tar), H. 1. A minor or secon- 
dary altar, in distinction from the high altar ; 
any other altar than the chief one in a church : 
now commonly called side altar. 2. A numi- 
given by some writers on Christian archseology 
to a table standing beside the altar, for hold- 
ing the vestments, the sacred vessels, etc. ; a 
credence. 
byart. See byre. 
byard (bi'iird), n. [Appar. a variant form and 
use of bayard 2 , q. v.] A band of leather cross- 
ing the breast, used by men for dragging wag- 
ons in coal-mines. 
byast. See bias. 
byats (bi'ats), n. pi. Same as buntons. 
by-ball (bi'bal), n. In cricket, same as by 1 , 3. 
by-bidder (bi'bid"er), . A person employed 
at public auctions to bid on articles put up for 
sale, in order that the seller may obtain higher 
prices. 
by-blow (bi'blo), n. 1. A side or accidental 
blow. 
Now and then a by-blow from the pulpit. 
Hilton, Colasterion. 
How finely, like a fencer, 
My father fetches his by-blows to hit me ! 
iliddleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, i. 1. 
2f. An illegitimate child. [Colloq. or vulgar.] 
The natural brother of the king a by-blow. 
Massinger, Maid of Honour, i. 1. 
by-book (bi'buk), . A note- or memoran- 
dum-book; a subordinate book containing 
notes or jottings to be afterward extended in 
due form. 
(Lord's day.) To my office, and there fell on entering, 
out of a bye-book, part of my second journall-book, which 
hath lay these two years and more unentered. 
Pepys, Diary, II. 87. 
by-business (bi'biz"nes), n. Business aside 
from the main business ; something quite sec- 
ondary or subordinate. Barrow. 
by-by (bi'bl'), interj. [Also written bye-bye; 
a childish or humorous variation of good-by, 
q. v.] Good-by: a childish form of farewell, 
sometimes used humorously by grown people. 
Well, you are going to be in a passion, I see, and I shall 
only interrupt you so, bye-bye. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 1. 
bycauset, fonj. An obsolete form of because. 
by-cause (bi'kaz), . [< by- 3 + cause.'] A sec- 
ondary cause. 
I ... was one cause (a by-cause) why the purse was 
lost. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. 1. 
bycet, n. An obsolete form of bice. 
byckornet, An obsolete form of bicker n. 
bycpckett (b!'kok-et), n. [Also variously 
written abocock, abococked, abocockvt, (tb/icked, 
abocket, and aba- 
cot, corrupted 
forms due to 
misreading or 
misprinting of 
bycocket, < late 
ME. bycoket 
(Halliwell), < 
OF. bicoquet, a 
bycocket, a kind 
of cap (cf. 
" biquoquet, the 
beak of a la- 
dies mourning 
hood" Cot- 
grave), prob. < 
bi- (L. bis), dou- 
ble, + coque (> 
E. cock), a shell, 
a boat. The al- 
lusion is to the 
shape.] A kind of hat worn during the four- 
teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, prob- 
ably by noble and wealthy persons only, it was 
of the form called by heralds cap of maintenance, that 
is, with the brim turned up either before or behind, and 
with a long point or beak, or two such points, opposite. 
Modern representations generally give it with the point 
or points behind ; but the more common form in the mid- 
dle ages seems to have had the point in front, as in the 
illustration. 
by-common (bl-kom'on), a. [< by 1 , prep., be- 
yond, + common. Cf . by-ordinary. ] More than 
common; uncommon. [Scotch.] 
by-concernment (bl'kon-sern"inent), n. A 
subordinate or subsidiary affair. Dryaen. 
bycornet, An obsolete form of bickern. 
Set rakes, crookes, adses, and fit/cornes, 
And double bited axes for thees thornes. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 42. 
\ 
Bycock et of the isth century. ( From Viollet- 
le-Duc's " Diet, du Mobilier fran^is." ) 
bylander 
by-corner (bi'k6r"ner), n. A private or out-of- 
the-way corner. Massinger ; Fuller. 
by-course (bi'kors), n. An irregular or im- 
proper course of action. 
If tholl forsake not these unprofitable by-courses. 
B. Jonxon, Poetaster, i. 1. 
byddet, . and . An obsolete spelling of hiil. 
bydet, r. An obsolete form of bide. 
by-dependencyt (bi'de-pen"den-si), n. Some- 
thing depending on something else ; an acces- 
sory circumstance, tihak., Cymbeliiie, v. 5. 
by-design (bi'de-zin*'), n. An incidental or 
subordinate design or purpose. 
They'll serve for other by-designs. S. Butler, Hudibras. 
by-doing (bi'do-ing), n. Subordinate or collat- 
eral action ; private doing. 
by-drinkingt (bi'dring"kiug), H. A drinking 
between meals. 
You owe money here besides, Sir John, for your diet 
and by-drinking*. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 8. 
by-dweller (bi'dweFer), . One who dwells 
near ; a neighbor. 
bye 1 !, prep, and adv. See by 1 . 
bye 1 , See by 1 . 
bye'-'t, n. See by 2 . 
bye s t, " See by3. 
bye 4 t, ' An obsolete spelling of buy. 
bye-ball (bi'bal), n. In cricket, same as by 1 , 3. 
by-election (bi'e-lek"shon), n. In Great Brit- 
ain, an election held to nil a vacancy in Parlia- 
ment. 
by-end (bi' end), . 1. A private end; a secret 
purpose or design. 
To have other by-ends in good actions sours laudable 
performances. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. 10. 
All persons that worship for fear, profit, or some other 
by-end, fall within the intendment of this fable. 
Sir Ji. L' Estrange. 
2. An incidental or subsidiary aim or object. 
Pamphleteer or journalist reading for an argument for 
a party, or reading to write, or, at all events, for some by- 
end imposed on them, must read meanly and fragmen- 
tarily. Emerson, Universities. 
byert, n. An obsolete form of byre. 
by-fellow (bi'fel'o), . In English universities, 
a name given to one who has been elected to 
a by-fellowship; a fellow out of the regular 
course. In some colleges a by-fellow, even when over 
age, can be elected to a regular fellowship when a vacancy 
occurs. 
by-fellowship (bi'feFo-ship), n. In English 
universities, a secondary or nominal fellowship. 
There are some Bye-Fellowships, however, in the small 
colleges whose value is merely nominal some 5 or 6 a 
year. C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 131, note. 
bygg 1 , bygg 2 , etc. See big 1 , big 2 , etc. 
bygirdlet, . [ME., also bigirdlc, bygyrdylle, 
bigurdle, bigurdel, < AS. bigyrdcl, Irigirdel, big- 
gyrdel (= MHG. bigurtel), < bi, bi, by, 4- gyrdel, 
girdle: see by 1 and girdle, and cf. begird.'] A 
purse hanging from the girdle or belt. 
The bagges and the bigurdeles, he hath to-broken hem alle, 
That the Erl auarous helde. Piers Plowman (B), viii. 86. 
bygone (bi'gon), a. and n. [< by 1 , adv., + gone, 
pp. of go.] I. a. Past; gone by; hence, out of 
date; antiquated: as, "thy bygone fooleries," 
Sliak., W. T., iii. 2. 
The Chancellor was a man who belonged to a bygone 
world, a representative of a past age, of obsolete modes 
of thinking. ilacaulay, Sir W. Temple. 
It is the test of excellence 111 any department of art, 
that it can never be bygone. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 178. 
II. n. What is gone by and past: as, that 
is a bygone; let bygones be bygones; "let old 
bygones be," Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
by-hour (bl'our), . A leisure hour. 
by-interest (bi'in"ter-est), . Self-interest; 
private advantage. Atterbury. 
by-intimation (bl'in-ti-ma"shqn), . An inti- 
mation, whether by speech, look, gesture, or 
other means, so conveyed as to be unobserved 
by those for whom it is not intended; an aside. 
There were no by-intimations to make the audience 
fancy their own discernment so much greater than that of 
the Moor. Lamb, Old Actors. 
byke, . See bike. 
bykert, *' and n. An obsolete form of bicker 1 . 
bylandt,". [< by 1 + land.'] A peninsula. Also 
spelled biland. 
It I find various devices resorted to by writers at the 
beginning of that same century to express a tract of land 
almost surrounded by sea, so that they employ "biland," 
" demi-isle," " demi-island," I am able, without much hesi- 
tation, to adirm that "peninsula" was not yet acknow- 
ledged to be English. 
Abp. Trench, Deficiencies in Eng. Diets., p. 40. 
bylauder, . See bilander. 
