by (by)

preposition

• 1identifying the agent performing an action:
• after a passive verb: the door was opened by my cousin Annie damage caused by fire
• after a noun denoting an action: a clear decision by the electorate years of hard fund-raising work by local people
• identifying the author of a text, idea, or work of art: a book by Ernest Hemingway

• 2 [often with verbal noun] indicating the means of achieving something: malaria can be controlled by attacking the parasite they substantiate their opinions by the use of precise textual reference they plan to provide further working capital by means of borrowing
• indicating a term to which an interpretation is to be assigned: what is meant by ‘fair’?
• indicating a name according to which a person is known: she mostly calls me by my last name
• indicating the means of transport selected for a journey: the cost of travelling by bus I travelled to Folkestone by rail
• indicating the other parent of someone’s child or children: Richard is his son by his third wife
• indicating the sire of a pedigree animal, especially a horse: a black filly by Goldfuerst
• (followed by a noun without a determiner) in various phrases indicating how something happens: I heard by chance that she has married again Anderson, by contrast, rejects this view she ate by candlelight

• 3indicating the amount or size of a margin: the shot missed her by miles the raising of VAT by 2.5%
• indicating a quantity or amount: billing is by the minute the drunken yobbos who turned up by the cartload
• in phrases indicating something happening repeatedly or progressively, typically with repetition of a unit of time: colours changing minute by minute the risk becomes worse by the day
• identifying a parameter: a breakdown of employment figures by age and occupation
• expressing multiplication, especially in dimensions: a map measuring 400 by 600 mm she multiplied it by 89

• 4indicating a deadline or the end of a particular time period: I’ve got to do this report by Monday by now Kelly needed extensive physiotherapy

• 5indicating location of a physical object beside a place or object: remains were discovered by the roadside the pram was by the dresser
• past and beyond: I drove by our house

• 6indicating the period in which something happens: this animal always hunts by night

• 7concerning; according to: anything you do is all right by me she had done her duty by him

• 8used in mild oaths: it was the least he could do, by God I swear by Almighty God

adverb

• so as to go past: a car flashed by on the other side of the road he let only a moment go by

noun (plural byes)

• variant spelling of bye¹