▪ I. bye, n.
(baɪ)
[Variant spelling of by prep. in its subst. use.]
1. A term used in various games and sports: a. Cricket. A run scored for a ball which passes the batsman, and which the wicket-keeper and long-stop fail to stop. to steal a bye: to make a run for a ball by starting the instant it passes the wicket-keeper. leg-bye: a run obtained for a ball diverted by grazing the batsman's person.
| 1746 in ‘Bat’ Cricket Manual (1850) 80, Byes..3. 1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, He has stolen three byes in the first ten minutes. Ibid. The ball..rises fast, catching Jack on the outside of the thigh, and bounding away as if from india-rubber, while they run two for a leg-bye amidst great applause. 1880 Times 28 Sept. 11/5 When a bye was obtained stumps were drawn. |
b. in Tennis, Boxing, Coursing, Cockfighting, etc.: The position of an individual, who, in consequence of the numbers being odd, is left without a competitor after the rest have been drawn in pairs. Hence the phrases to draw a bye, to run a bye, etc.
| 1883 Field 22 Dec. 863 To do away with byes in the penultimate and final rounds of [lawn-tennis] matches. 1887 Daily News 23 Feb. 3/7 The latter had had the benefit of drawing the bye in the second round. 1848 Craig s.v. Bye, In Coursing, a dog is said to ‘run a bye’ when it runs a course against another not in the match—thus equalising its runnings to the other dogs in the match. 1883 Field 22 Dec. 857 Sabrina then ran her bye, which she won. |
c. in Assoc. Football, Lacrosse, etc.: A goal; a starting line. Also bye-line, the line extending the alignment of the goal-posts.
| 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xlix. 124 Erecting the ‘byes’ or goals which were to guide the play. 1847–78 Halliw., By, the point or mark from which boys emit the marbles or taws. Yorksh. 1928 Sunday Express 16 Dec. 21/1 There was scarcely one who was not positive that the ball had passed the bye-line. 1959 Times 23 Feb. 3/2 Viollet pulled his pass back from the by-line. 1962 Times 6 Feb. 4/6 As is usual at the universities nowadays, the game [lacrosse] was played with side-lines and bye-lines. |
d. A by-match or ‘event’; one not in the programme. esp. in Cockfighting: in full bye-battle (also transf. and fig.), as distinguished from the ‘main’: see main n.3 3.
| 1716 [see main n.3 3]. 1754 Connoisseur 22 Aug. I. 178 Our present race of spindle-shanked beaux had rather close with an orange wench at the playhouse, than engage in a bye battle at Tottenham Court. 1859 Lennox Picts. Sporting Life I. 175 Eleven a-head on the main and byes seven. Ibid., On the usual fighting night..at the same pit, for bye-battles. 1882 R. Caldecott ‘Graphic’ Picts. I. 13/1 There were carpet-dances on off-nights by way of byes. 1884 L'pool Daily Post 30 June 6/5 [Cockfighting] Some byes afterwards took place. |
e. Golf. The hole or holes of the stipulated course that are unplayed when the match is finished.
| 1887 Golfing 92 Bye. Any hole or holes that remain to be played after the match is finished, are played for singly; unless the sides agree to make another match of them. 1890 Sat. Rev. 31 May 666/1 Prestwick golfers of to-day do not play for such stakes as a soul on the round and a nose on the bye. |
2. The name of a plot against the government of James I. (So called in opposition to the Main plot: the relation between the two is one of the disputed points in English history. Cf. by n.2 1.)
| 1603 St. Trials, You are fools, you are on the bye, Raleigh and I are on the main; we mean to take away the king and his cubs. [1885 Low & Pulling Dict. Eng. Hist. s.v. Bye Plot. It is certain that the Bye Plot had no connection with the Main or Raleigh's Plot.] 1886 C. E. Doble in Hearne Collect. (1886) II. 436 Wm. Clarke was executed at Winchester, for his participation in ‘the Bye’, Nov. 29, 1603. |
3. = bywater.
| 1928 J. R. Sutton Diamond 34 Yellow Diamond... Fine White. White. First Cape... First Bye. |
▪ II. † bye, by, v. Obs.
[Aphetic f. aby, abye v., but in sense 1 not separable from buy v.]
1. trans. To pay for, atone for, make amends for; = aby v. 2, buy v. 3.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 1146 (Fairf.) Þou sal bye [Cott. bi] hit selcouþ dere. 1561 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc (R.) Thou, Porrex, thou, shalt dearly bye the same. |
[See buy v. 3, for other examples.]
2. absol. To pay the penalty, suffer; = aby v. 4.
| c 1440 Sir Degrev. xlvii. 737 Sche said, Tratur, thou shalt bye! Why were thou so hardye To do me this vylanye? |
3. intr. To remain, stay, abide; = aby v. 5 (confused with abide).
| c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 1202 The fyve were out wente, And the twa at home thay byeth, For to do that he thaym bydeth. 1594 True Trag. Rich. III, 57 Captain Blunt, Peter Landoyse and you Shall by in quarters. |
▪ III. bye
var. of by.
▪ IV. bye
obs. form of bee2, ring; also of buy.
▪ V. bye
obs. form of boy.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 35 Bye or boye, bostio. |
▪ VI. bye
var. of bey v. Obs. to bend.
| c 1305 Edmund Conf. 167 in E.E.P. (1862) 75 Vneþe he miȝte bye his rug: oþer lokie to þe grounde. |