- past
- Just drive by. Don't stop.
- He hurried by without speaking to me.
- Excuse me, I can't get by.
- Time goes by so quickly.
Homophones buy | by | byebuy by bye/baɪ//baɪ/- buy verb
- Some people buy all their groceries online.
- by preposition
- I think he was motivated by his mother.
- by adverb
- Don't let the opportunity pass you by.
- bye exclamation
- Bye! See you later.
- used to say that something is saved so that it can be used in the future
- I've put some money by for college fees.
- in order to visit somebody for a short time
- I'll come by this evening and pick up the books.
Word OriginOld English bī, bi, be, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bij and German bei.
Idioms
See by in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee by in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishby and by
- (old-fashioned) before long; soon
- By and by she met an old man with a beard.
by and large
- used when you are saying something that is generally, but not completely, true
- By and large, I enjoyed my time at school.
Language Bank generallygenerallyWays of saying ‘in general’- Women generally earn less than men.
- Generally speaking, jobs traditionally done by women are paid at a lower rate than those traditionally done by men.
- In general, women do not earn as much as men.
- By and large, women remain in the lower-paid jobs in the labour market
- Certain jobs, like nursing and cleaning, are still mainly carried out by women.
- Senior management posts are predominantly held by men.
- Most senior management posts tend to be held by men.
- Women are, for the most part, still paid less than men.
- Economic and social factors are, to a large extent, responsible for women being concentrated in low-paid jobs.
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by