183
Byzantium
window | Sit by me. | I always have/keep a spare set by me.
(=close enough to reach easily) 5 past: He walked/passed by
me without noticing me. | I go by the house every day. 6 (used
to show the name of the person who wrote a book, directed
a film, made a work of art etc): a play by Shakespeare | Jaws
- a film by Steven Spielberg based on the novel by Peter
Benchley 7 not later than; before: Be here by four o'clock. |
Will you finish it by tomorrow? | By the time the doctor arrived
the patient had died. | By 2010 the population will have risen to
over 20 million. 8 in accordance with: to play by the rules |
Profits were £6 million, but by their standards this is quite a
bad result. 9 to the amount or degree of: The price of oil fell
by a further $2 a barrel. | They overcharged me by £3. | It's
better by far. (=much better) 10 (used to show the part
taken, held etc): He led her by the hand. | I grabbed the
hammer by the handle. 11 (in expressions of strong feeling
and solemn promises): By God he's done it! | to swear by
heaven 12 (in measurements and numbers): a room 15 feet
by 20 feet | to divide 10 by 5 | to multiply 10 by 5 13 (used to
show a rate or quantity): paid by the hour | You can buy them
singly or by the dozen. 14 (used to show the size of units or
groups that follow each other): little by little | The animals
went in two by two. | day by day 15 during: Cats sleep by day
and hunt by night. 16 with regard to: a doctor by profession |
French by birth | It's alright by me if you go. 17 (used
without a or the) as a result of: I did it by mistake/by
accident. | better by design 18 having (the stated person or
animal) as a father: She had two children by her first hus-
band. 19 (all) by oneself (completely) alone: He was sitting
by himself. | I did it all by myself!
y² adv 1 past: He walked by without noticing me. | A lot of
time has gone by since then. 2 near: some people standing
by 3 away or aside for future use: Try to put/keep a bit of
money by for the holidays. 4 especially AmE at or to another's
home: Stop by/Come by for a drink after work. 5 by and by
especially lit or old-fash before long; soon: You will forget him by
and by. 6 by and large on the whole; in general: By and
large, your plan is a good one. 7 by the by (used when
talking about a subject of secondary importance); INCIDEN-
TALLY: I was doing some shopping yesterday, by the by bread's
gone up again, when I saw Mrs Jones.
y- → see WORD FORMATION TABLE
y-ars, Bet-sy /'baɪəzl-ərz, 'betsi/ (1928-) a US writer of
NOVELS for young people between the ages of 10 and 18,
which include The Summer of the Swans and The Burning
Questions of Bingo Brown
ye¹ /baɪ/ also ,bye-'bye /'baɪ.baɪ/ interj infml goodbye
ye² n (in cricket) a run made off a ball that the hitter
(BATSMAN) did not touch
ye³ n a situation in a sporting competition in which a player
or a team does not have to play against another team until
the next round of the competition: Our volleyball team has
three byes this season.
ye-byes /'baɪ baɪz/ especially BrE || beddy-bye AmE — n go
to bye-byes (used by or to children) to go to sleep
y-e,lection, bye-election n especially BrE a special elec-
tion held between regular elections to fill a position whose
former holder has left it or died
y-el-o-rus-sia /ˌbiːˌeləʊˈrʌʃə/ → see BELARUS
y-gone¹ /'baɪgɒn||-gɔːn/ adj [A no comp.] gone by; past;
former: in bygone days | relics of a bygone era
ygone² n 1 a bygone object or machine no longer in
use 2 let bygones be bygones infml to forget and forgive
past quarrels
y-graves, Max /'baɪgreɪvz/ (1922-) a British entertainer
and COMEDIAN in the theatre and on television, known for
his smile and for telling jokes in a very relaxed way. He is
also known as a singer, especially for the songs Meet Me on
the Corner (1955) and You Need Hands (1958).
y-law /'baɪlɔː/ n 1 BrE a special law or rule made not by a
national government, but by a local council, a railway
etc 2 AmE a rule made by an organization for governing its
own affairs
'by-line n a line at the beginning of a newspaper or magazine
article giving the writer's name
BYOB /ˌbiː waɪ əʊ 'biː/ abbrev. for Bring Your Own Bottle, or
Bring Your Own Booze (=alcoholic drink); written on a party
invitation to ask guests to bring an alcoholic drink with them.
In Australia, this expression is also used to mean a restaurant
where customers can bring their own alcohol: Is it a BYOB?
by-pass¹ /'baɪpɑs||-pæs/ n 1 a road that passes round the
side of a town or other busy area: Take the bypass to avoid
the traffic in the town centre. 2 tech an apparatus for sending
a flow of gas, liquid etc, round, instead of through, some-
thing else: He's had heart bypass surgery. (=directing blood
through new blood tubes outside the heart)
bypass² v [T] to avoid, especially by going round: If we
bypass the town we'll miss the rush hour traffic. | I bypassed
the usual complaints procedure by writing directly to the
owner of the company.
by-play /'baɪpleɪ/ n [U] action of less importance going on at
the same time as the main action, especially in a play
'by-,product n [(of)] 1 something additional that is pro-
duced during the making of something else: Silver is often
obtained as a by-product during the separation of lead from
rock. 2 an additional result, sometimes unexpected or unin-
tended → compare END PRODUCT
byre /baɪər/ n BrE old-fash a farm building for cattle; COWSHED
By-ron, Lord /'baɪərən/
(1788-1824) an English writer
of ROMANTIC and SATIRICAL
poetry, best known for
poems such as Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage and Don
Juan. He is also remembered
for his romantic life which
included many famous love
affairs and for his death of
fever in Greece while fight-
ing against the Turks for
Greek independence.
Lord Byron
by-stand-er /'baɪˌstændər/
n a person standing near, but
not taking part in, what is
happening; ONLOOKER: The
police asked some of the
bystanders about the accident. | I wasn't involved in the fight -
I'm just an innocent bystander.
byte /baɪt/ n tech a unit of computer information equal to
eight BITS → compare BIT³
by-way /'baɪweɪ/ also by-road /'baɪrəd/ n a small road or
path which is not much used or known: the highways and
byways of Britain | (fig.) the byways (=less well-known parts)
of English literature
by-word /'baɪwɜːd||-wɜːrd/ n [(for)] (the name of) a person,
place, or thing that is regarded as representing some quality:
The dictator's name had become a byword for cruelty and
injustice.
by-zan-tine /baɪ'zæntaɪn, -tiːn, biː'l'bɪzəntiːn, -taɪn/ adj
fm, often derog secret, indirect, and difficult to understand; very
COMPLICATED: the byzantine complexity of our tax laws
Byzantine adj of or concerning the ancient city of Byzantium
or the EMPIRE of which it was the centre. Constantine the
Great was responsible for the establishment of the Byzantine
Empire, which is said to date from the setting up in 330 AD
of the city of Constantinople, on the place where Byzantium
had formerly stood: Byzantine art/architecture/music
By-zan-ti-um /bɪ'zæntiəm, baɪ-ll-'zæntʃɪəm/ an ancient
city, centre of the Byzantine Empire. The city was renamed
Constantinople by Constantine the Great, and is now called
Istanbul.