readiness for duty or immediate deployment:buses were placed on standby for the trip to Washington
the state of waiting to secure an unreserved place for a journey or performance, allocated on the basis of earliest availability:passengers were obliged to go on standby
a person waiting to secure a place on standby.
a person or thing ready to be deployed immediately, especially if needed as backup in an emergency:a generator was kept as a standby in case of power failure [as modifier]:a standby rescue vessel
an operational mode of an electrical appliance in which the power is switched on but the appliance is not actually functioning.
