By (bī), prep. [OE. bi, AS.
bī, big, near to, by, of, from, after, according to;
akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be, D. bij, OHG.
bī, G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr.
'amfi`. E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. √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.
[1913 Webster]
By foundation or by shady rivulet
He sought them both.
Milton.
2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
Long labors both by sea and land he bore.
Dryden.
By land, by water, they renew the charge.
Pope.
3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the
other side of; past; as, to go by a church.
4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a
cabin twenty feet by forty.
5. Against. [Obs.] Tyndale [1. Cor. iv.
4].
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.
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.
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.
☞ 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.
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.
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.
☞ 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).