by-way
(ˈbaɪweɪ)
Forms: 4 biwei, 5 bye-waye, 6 bie-, by-waie, 9 bye-way, 5– by-way.
[f. by- 3 b + way.]
1. A way other than the highway; a side road; a secluded, private, obscure, or unfrequented way.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 10145 (Rolls Ser.) By a bywey [v.r. bigate] to Totenes lay, Cador & hyse toke þat way. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xxxii. 65 Ðat kennyd þame a by way. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 28 That path he kept, which beaten was most plaine, Ne ever would to any by-way bend. 1611 Bible Judg. v. 6 In the dayes of Iael..the traueilers walked thorow by-wayes. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xxvi. (1737) 114 Highways, Crossways, and Byways. 1860 Adler Fauriel's Prov. Poetry xi. 239 Totally unacquainted with the by-ways of the forest. |
2. transf. or fig.; often depreciatively.
| 1488 Caxton Chast. Goddes Chyldr. 23 Suche a man cometh lightly in to a byewaye and for many errours he slideth ful folyly. 1535 Coverdale Isa. lvii. 17 He turneth him self, and foloweth y⊇ bywaye of his owne hert. 1697 Dryden Virg., Ess. Georg. (1721) I. 203 A Precept that enters it [the Understanding] as it were thro' a By-way. 1768–78 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 611 Children drawn into the world through this by-way are looked upon as a burden. 1846 D. Jerrold Chron. Clovernook Wks. IV. 439 The by-ways and short-cuts to wealth. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 195 A friend, learned in all the byways..of Italian literature. |
3. attrib.
| 1661 Hickeringill Jamaica 84 Undisputed Titles need not..by-way stratagems to ensure their Negotiations. 1720 Lond. Gaz. No. 5910/4 All Bye-Way and Cross-Road Letters are to be paid for. |
4. advb. gen. (cf. crossways) or ? pl. cognate obj.: with quot. 1725 cf. by a. 1.
| 1549 Latimer Serm. bef. Edw. VI, ii. (Arb.) 56 The Iewes..take vpon them to breke lawes and to go by wayes. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. (1703) II. viii. 410 Marching by-ways..they likewise passed over the Thames. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 311 Carrying them by⁓ways and unfrequented. |