- —prep. - near, beside (sit by me; path by the river).
- through the agency or means of (by proxy; poem by donne; by bus; by cheating; divide by two; killed by robbers).
- not later than (by next week).
- a past, beyond (drove by the church). B through; via (went by paris).
- during (by day; by daylight).
- to the extent of (missed by a foot; better by far).
- according to; using as a standard or unit (judge by appearances; paid by the hour).
- with the succession of (worse by the minute; day by day).
- concerning; in respect of (did our duty by them; smith by name). 10 used in mild oaths (by god). 11 expressing dimensions of an area etc. (three feet by two). 12 avoiding, ignoring (passed us by). 13 inclining to (north by north-west). —adv. - near (sat by).
- aside; in reserve (put £5 by).
- past (marched by). —n. (pl. Byes) = *bye1. by and by before long; eventually. By and large on the whole. By the by (or bye) incidentally. By oneself 1 a unaided. B unprompted.
- alone. [old english]
BAA
—v. (baas, baaed or baa'd) bleat. —n. Sheep's cry. [imitative]
BAD
blood n. Ill feeling.
- books see *book.
- breath n. Unpleasant-smelling breath.
- debt n. Debt that is not recoverable.
- egg see *egg1.
- faith n. Intent to deceive.
- lot n. Person of bad character.
- news n. Colloq. Unpleasant or troublesome person or thing.
- colloq. Ill, injured (feeling bad today; a bad leg).
- colloq. Regretful, guilty (feels bad about it).
- serious, severe (a bad headache, mistake).
- a morally unacceptable (bad man; bad language). B naughty.
- not valid (a bad cheque). 10 (badder, baddest) esp. Us slang excellent. —n. Ill fortune; ruin. —adv. Us colloq. Badly. not (or not so) bad colloq. Fairly good. Too bad colloq. Regrettable. [old english]
BAG
—n. - soft open-topped receptacle.
- a piece of luggage. B woman's handbag.
- (in pl.; usu. Foll. By of) colloq. Large amount (bags of time).
- slang derog. Woman.
- animal's sac.
- amount of game shot by one person.
- (usu. In pl.) Baggy skin under the eyes.
- slang particular interest (folk music is not my bag). —v. (-gg-) 1 colloq. A secure (bagged the best seat). B (often in phr. Bags i) colloq. Claim as being the first (bags i go next).
- put in a bag.
- (cause to) hang loosely; bulge. in the bag colloq. Achieved, secured. bagful n. (pl. -s). [origin unknown]
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