Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A secondary matter; a side issue.
  • noun Sports The position of one who draws no opponent for a round in a tournament and so advances to the next round.
  • idiom (bye/by) By the way; incidentally.
  • interjection Used to express farewell.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See by.
  • noun See by.
  • noun See by.
  • An obsolete spelling of buy.
  • noun See by.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Obs. except in the phrase by the bye. A thing not directly aimed at; something which is a secondary object of regard; an object by the way, etc.; as in on or upon the bye, i. e., in passing; indirectly; by implication.
  • noun (Cricket) A run made upon a missed ball.
  • noun In various sports in which the contestants are drawn in pairs, the position or turn of one left with no opponent in consequence of an odd number being engaged.
  • noun (Golf) The hole or holes of a stipulated course remaining unplayed at the end of a match.
  • noun in passing; by way of digression; apropos to the matter in hand.
  • noun A dwelling.
  • noun In certain games, a station or place of an individual player.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun sports The position of a person or team in a tournament or competition who draws no opponent in a particular round so advances to the next round unopposed, or is awarded points for a win in a league table; also the phantom opponent of such a person or team.
  • noun cricket An extra scored when the batsmen take runs after the ball has passed the striker without hitting either the bat or the batsman.
  • noun obsolete A dwelling.
  • interjection colloquial Goodbye.
  • preposition Obsolete spelling of by.
  • noun Obsolete spelling of bee.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun you advance to the next round in a tournament without playing an opponent
  • noun a farewell remark

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From by.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for goodbye.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Variant form of by, from Old English (being near).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortened form of goodbye.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alternative forms.

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Examples

  • ♫♫ Let the circle be unbroken, by & by Lord, bye& bye ♫♫

    overstimulation - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008

  • In Marshallese, the language of Bikini Atoll, hello and bye alike are conveyed in the word kwe, which also means love.i In English, the expression bye was once similarly fulsome: God be with you.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • During the first hour I felt pain, but during the rest of the evening pride kindly came to my assistance and from that moment instead of feeling myself little, I grew to a most noble and patagonian [3] nature, from which I could scarcely reduce myself for many days after; and which enabled me at the moment to turn a deaf ear to the contended merits of Demosthenes and Cicero, the Borhavians in medicine, and the &c &c &c &c — and to set and compose verses 'to my Old Oak table', which by the bye is a far better companion to me, as I will make appear, than Dr. A and his son put together.

    Letter 115 2009

  • February 11th, 2010 at 6: 42 pm tombaker says: mr. bye bye is ruled by fear. what a shame.

    Think Progress » Texas Tea Party candidate: ‘There are some very good arguments’ that government was involved in 9/11. 2010

  • An acceptance to an anthology and a personal good-bye from a person who moved away instead of just an invite to the going away party.

    Archive 2009-01-01 2009

  • One was essentially an obituary, a fond and sympathetic good-bye from a fellow writer who admired his talent and thought of him as a friend.

    Lance Mannion: 2009

  • An acceptance to an anthology and a personal good-bye from a person who moved away instead of just an invite to the going away party.

    Looking back at 2008 2009

  • One was essentially an obituary, a fond and sympathetic good-bye from a fellow writer who admired his talent and thought of him as a friend.

    Old heart crying 2009

  • Saying good bye is really really really really really really hard but its a little bit easier the more hugs you give and if you know you will see them again … Soon Durnit!

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - The 27 Things I Learned at Nerdtacular ‘08: 2008

  • • Maybe a playoff bye is like key lime pie: looks great, but not necessarily good for you.

    Lots to learn from a soggy Super Bowl 2007

Comments

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  • Cricket jargon - a run scored without the striker having made contact with the ball.

    December 4, 2007

  • "Dick watches, holding open the gate of the pen, not allowed to assist his dog in any way except with his voice. 'Away,' he commands, 'Bye,' 'Stand,' 'Come,' in rapid succession. Sweep responds, moving fluidly in and out of the flock ... working the sheep back toward the pen."

    —Merrily Weisbord and Kim Kachanoff, Dogs with Jobs: Working Dogs Around the World (NY and London: Pocket Books, 2000), 89.

    July 25, 2009

  • Bye!

    May 21, 2024