by and by, advb. phr. (and n.)
(ˈbaɪ ənd ˈbaɪ, ˈbaɪ ən ˈbaɪ)
[originating app. in the use of by prep. to denote succession (see by prep. 25).]
† 1. Of a succession of (persons or things): One by one, one after another, in order: a. in place.
| 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 267 He slouh tuenti, Þer hedes quyte & clene, he laid þam bi & bi. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 304 Ffyrst sat the god of loue..And sithyn al the remenant by and by As they were of degre. c 1440 Partonope 1929 Wyth Rybyes and Saphires by and by. c 1485 in E.E. Misc. (1855) 4 The towres shal be of every [= ivory] Clene corvene by and by. |
† b. in order or succession. Obs.
| c 1330 Assump. Virg. (1866) 85 Vp ros oure swete ladi And kist þe apostles bi & bi. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 73 Whan William..had taken homage of barons bi & bi. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4581 These were his wordis by and by [mot à mot]. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1911, I have gon þe stacyounes by and by. |
† 2. On and on, continuously. Obs.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 4828 Gij..souȝt þat maiden bi & bi: Op and doun he ȝede hir secheinde. c 1340 Cursor M. 15194 (Fairf.) Folowes forþ þat ilk man al-way bi & by. c 1430 Syr Gener. 4836 The knightes..So thei bare hem by and by That the host without began to fleen. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 83 The Ivie bush the Oak claspes by and by. |
3. Of sequence of events: † a. Straightway, immediately, directly, at once. Obs.
| 1407 W. of Thorpe's Exam. in Arb. Garner VI. 110 Some counselled the Archbishop to burn me by and by. 1526 Tindale Mark i. 31 By and by [Coverdale, immediatly] the fever left her. 1586 Cogan Haven Health ccxiv. (1636) 224 Ill seeds..shew not themselves by and by, but yet in processe of time they bud forth. 1611 Bible Luke xxi. 9 The end is not by and by. 1690 W. Walker Idiom. Anglo-Lat. 390 They say he will be here by and by (even now). |
4. [With the same development of sense as in anon, presently, and F. bientôt]: Before long, presently, soon, shortly. (The usual current sense; in U.S. vulgarly by'm-by.)
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 164 Innocentius counseyleth us to say it by & by. 1549 Olde Erasm. Par. Thess. ii. 15 To haue slayne the Prophetes before, and byanby Christ after the Prophetes. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iv. 109 Imbowell'd will I see thee by and by, Till then, in blood, by Noble Percie lye. 1627 Sanderson 12 Serm. (1637) 554 Restraining Grace may tie us now, and bye and by unloose us. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 132 ¶4 Thee and I are to part by and by. 1825 Bro. Jonathan I. 106 Bym by, naiteral enough, there they go! 1862 Huxley Lect. Wrkg. Men 93 You may by-and-by convert single flowers into double flowers. 1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 410/2 Byme-by he..gave up goin' to see the..girls. |
† 5. Of logical sequence: For that reason, therefore, as a consequence; = L. continuo. Obs.
| 1565–73 Cooper Thesaur. s.v. Continuo, If he did speake foolishly, will you by and by doe more foolishly? 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 263 b, As though y{supt} whatsoever were unlike unto Ciceroes phrase, were by & by barbarous. 1621–31 Laud Sev. Serm. (1847) 96 All ‘heats’ are not by and by a furnace. |
B. Used as n.
1. a. Procrastination; b. Time coming.
| 1591 Florio Sec. Fruites 95 Neuer giue credite..to the by and by of England, nor to the warrant you of Scotland. 1719 Ozell tr. Misson's Mem. 120 Negligences (the French call them by and by's). 1792 Roberts Looker-on No. 1 Husbanding up wise resolutions to be executed by and by. This by-and-by is a sort of phantom which seduces us on till we drop into old age. 1869 Daily News 4 Feb., By the road of Bye-and-bye one arrives at the town of Never. 18.. S. F. Bennett, ‘There's a land that is fairer than day’, In the sweet by-and-by We shall meet on that beautiful shore. |
2. The name by which cannon were known to some African peoples.
| 1857 J. Shooter Kafirs of Natal 112 They believe that the fearful by-and-bye eats up everything. 1893 B. Mitford Gun-Runner xxiv, We laugh at their baï-nbaï. What are guns, big or small, against the broad shields and devouring spears of the ever-conquering Amazulu? 1894 C. H. W. Donovan With Wilson in Matabeleland x. 234 They used to call common shells ‘by-and-byes’, because they could see the smoke, and by and by a shell would explode in their midst. |