Talk:by

Please someone check the danish word - I'm pretty sure it should translate as "town" (or even "city"?). Very possibly also in norwegian. \Mike 12:42, 16 Sep 2004 (UTC)

completion

What would it mean if I said I was going to loose 10 pounds by Christmas? Does it mean that I can loose the 10 pounds by Thanksgiving and have completed the goal? Or, is the time frame also implied (meaning I have to have to weigh 10 pounds less on December 25th 12:00AM than my weight at the time of making said goal)?

Are you trying to win a bet or achieve a health goal? If a health goal then you ought to lose the weight and keep it off. If you are trying to win a bet, then the word "by" favors you. It means on or before Christmas. It is like a race. If someone crosses the finish line, they have finished the race. If they then walk back along the course so that they are before the finish line when other racers come in, that does not matter. DCDuring 04:14, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

English etymology

I deduced this from the bī-page, where is stated that Old English "bī" means "by".

Before the beginning or before the end

By 2012 means before Jan 1st 2012 or before Dec 31st 2012?

Had the same question when coming on this article page. I think should be "no later than" the end of 2012. Found this reference here on "by" on Merriam-Webster.com: meaning "3 b : not later than <by 2 p.m.> ".142.244.23.245 20:13, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

This isn't really a question about "by", but a question about what "2012" means: you could equally ask whether "from 2011 to 2012" includes all of 2012 or just the point where it starts. I think it's ambiguous and depends on context. Equinox ◑ 20:03, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

I am not sure but I would disagree that it is about 2012. When one says "Please have the report ready by 2 p.m." it would mean it can be ready before but it should certainly be ready at 2 p.m. as in "not later than". What do you think about that? Regards, 142.244.23.245 20:13, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

Well, it's 2012 for ~365 days, and it's 2 p.m. for ~60 seconds, right? I would expect the report to be due at 14:00:00 and no later, even though it's technically still 2 p.m. at 14:00:59. But minutes are so short that we tend to treat them as instants in time, whereas years have long duration. Equinox ◑ 20:17, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

The instant-period distinction is as critical for the use of time prepositions as the point-(line/area) distinction is for spatial prepositions. I don't think that 2pm has any duration, except perhaps to physicists, clockmakers, and computer scientists. I'd be very surprised to hear an adult native speaker of English say "during/in 2PM", whereas "during/in? the week of the 20th", "during/in 2016". Conversely, "at 2016", "at the week of the 20th" don't sound acceptable to me, whereas "at 2pm" is. By "looks for" a point in time. Given something that is not clearly a point, it seeks something more specifically a point in time, like "first thing in the morning" or "close of business". DCDuring TALK 22:54, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

Take me by the hand

Erm, do we have a sense to cover this? I can't see one. Mglovesfun (talk) 10:14, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

"Involving/using the means of." Equinox ◑ 20:04, 29 June 2015 (UTC)

Ajax was stricken by madness by the goddess Athena

The Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 reads

Ajax was stricken by madness by the goddess Athena.

What is its right syntactic analysis? The only one I come up with is [by madness [by the goddess Athena]], that is with some elided verb between madness and the second by. --Backinstadiums (talk) 12:20, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

Looks like an error: one is stricken with madness. Equinox ◑ 12:47, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

Equinox's alternative is certainly better. Were it not for the second by phrase, I wouldn't call it an error. It seems more a style error than a grammatical one. DCDuring (talk) 18:39, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

Is stricken an adjective? Secondly, what is the syntactic role of by the goddess Athena? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:47, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

best-by date

What meaning is used in best-by date? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:39, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

The same one as in the very common "BEST BY MM/DD/YYYY" stamped on food packaging in the US: "Not later than". DCDuring (talk) 13:20, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

(minced) oaths

by Jove reads

From Latin pro Iovem. Ellipsis of a full oath of the form "I swear by Jove that…" Originally a literal oath; later a minced oath.

--Backinstadiums (talk) 16:13, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Double measurements

"A blank white eight-by-eleven sheet —G. Keillor, 1989". In such double measurements the smaller number is placed first in AmE and the larger in BrE. --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:03, 28 August 2021 (UTC)

By the by

We could do with a sense that corresponds with the meaning of the second appearance of by in the phrase by the by. It would be good if we could find uses outside of that phrase to justify it and if and when it's added to this entry it should probably be marked archaic or obsolete. --Overlordnat1 (talk) 15:03, 11 February 2023 (UTC)