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by1 (bī)

[Middle English, from Old English bī, be.]

prep. 

  1. Close to; next to: the window by the door.
  2. With the use or help of; through: We came by the back road.
  3. Up to and beyond; past: We drove by the house.
  4. At or to: stopped by the bakery; came by the house.
  5. In the period of; during: sleeping by day.
  6. Not later than: by 5:30 p.m.
    1. In the amount of: letters by the thousands.
    2. To the extent of: shorter by two inches.
    1. According to: played by the rules.
    2. With respect to: siblings by blood.
  9. In the name of: swore by the Bible to tell the truth.
  10. Through the agency or action of: was killed by a bullet.
  11. Used to indicate a succession of specified individuals, groups, or quantities: One by one they left. They were persuaded little by little.
    1. Used in multiplication and division: Multiply 4 by 6 to get 24.
    2. Used with measurements: a room 12 by 18 feet.
    3. Toward. Used to express direction with points of the compass: south by east.

adverb 

  1. On hand; nearby: Stand by.
  2. Aside; away: We put it by for later.
  3. Up to, alongside, and past: The car raced by.
  4. At or to one's home or current location: Stop by later today.
  5. Into the past: as years go by.

idioms

by oneself
Without company; alone: went by herself. Without help: wrote the book by myself.
by2 (bī)

noun 

Variant of bye1
bye1,
also by (bī)

[From by1.]

noun 

  1. A secondary matter; a side issue.
  2. Sports The position of one who draws no opponent for a round in a tournament and so advances to the next round.

idioms

by the bye
By the way; incidentally.