Adjacent Words

day by day definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adv
1: gradually and progressively; "his health weakened day by day" [syn: day by day, daily]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

By By (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[=i], big, near to, by, of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be, D. bij, OHG. b[=i], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`. E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref. Be-.] 1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from; close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. [1913 Webster] By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them both. --Milton. 2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5. Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden. By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope. 3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side of; past; as, to go by a church. 4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty feet by forty. 5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4]. 6. With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take by force. Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency, belong, more or less closely, most of the following uses of the word: (a) It points out the author and producer; as, ``Waverley'', a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by Canova; a sonata by Beethoven. (b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a Christian; no, by Heaven. (c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of; after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a model to build by. (d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen, meat by the pound; to board by the year. (e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished, it indicates the measure of increase or diminution; as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen by a third. (f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night. (g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had risen; he will be here by two o'clock. Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to, or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east, i.e., a point towards the east from the north; northeast by east, i.e., on point nearer the east than northeast is. Note: With is used instead of by before the instrument with which anything is done; as, to beat one with a stick; the board was fastened by the carpenter with nails. But there are many words which may be regarded as means or processes, or, figuratively, as instruments; and whether with or by shall be used with them is a matter of arbitrary, and often, of unsettled usage; as, to a reduce a town by famine; to consume stubble with fire; he gained his purpose by flattery; he entertained them with a story; he distressed us with or by a recital of his sufferings. see With. By all means, most assuredly; without fail; certainly. By and by. (a) Close together (of place). [Obs.] ``Two yonge knightes liggyng [lying] by and by.'' --Chaucer. (b) Immediately; at once. [Obs.] ``When . . . persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.'' --Matt. xiii. 21. (c) Presently; pretty soon; before long. Note: In this phrase, by seems to be used in the sense of nearness in time, and to be repeated for the sake of emphasis, and thus to be equivalent to ``soon, and soon,'' that is instantly; hence, -- less emphatically, -- pretty soon, presently. By one's self, with only one's self near; alone; solitary. By the bye. See under Bye. By the head (Naut.), having the bows lower than the stern; -- said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is by the stern. By the lee, the situation of a vessel, going free, when she has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side. By the run, to let go by the run, to let go altogether, instead of slacking off. By the way, by the bye; -- used to introduce an incidental or secondary remark or subject. Day by day, One by one, Piece by piece, etc., each day, each one, each piece, etc., by itself singly or separately; each severally. To come by, to get possession of; to obtain. To do by, to treat, to behave toward. To set by, to value, to esteem. To stand by, to aid, to support. Note: The common phrase good-by is equivalent to farewell, and would be better written good-bye, as it is a corruption of God be with you (b'w'ye).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Anniversary day. See Anniversary, n. Astronomical day, a period equal to the mean solar day, but beginning at noon instead of at midnight, its twenty-four hours being numbered from 1 to 24; also, the sidereal day, as that most used by astronomers. Born days. See under Born. Canicular days. See Dog day. Civil day, the mean solar day, used in the ordinary reckoning of time, and among most modern nations beginning at mean midnight; its hours are usually numbered in two series, each from 1 to 12. This is the period recognized by courts as constituting a day. The Babylonians and Hindoos began their day at sunrise, the Athenians and Jews at sunset, the ancient Egyptians and Romans at midnight. Day blindness. (Med.) See Nyctalopia. Day by day, or Day after day, daily; every day; continually; without intermission of a day. See under By. ``Day by day we magnify thee.'' --Book of Common Prayer. Days in bank (Eng. Law), certain stated days for the return of writs and the appearance of parties; -- so called because originally peculiar to the Court of Common Bench, or Bench (bank) as it was formerly termed. --Burrill. Day in court, a day for the appearance of parties in a suit. Days of devotion (R. C. Ch.), certain festivals on which devotion leads the faithful to attend mass. --Shipley. Days of grace. See Grace. Days of obligation (R. C. Ch.), festival days when it is obligatory on the faithful to attend Mass. --Shipley. Day owl, (Zo["o]l.), an owl that flies by day. See Hawk owl. Day rule (Eng. Law), an order of court (now abolished) allowing a prisoner, under certain circumstances, to go beyond the prison limits for a single day. Day school, one which the pupils attend only in daytime, in distinction from a boarding school. Day sight. (Med.) See Hemeralopia. Day's work (Naut.), the account or reckoning of a ship's course for twenty-four hours, from noon to noon. From day to day, as time passes; in the course of time; as, he improves from day to day. Jewish day, the time between sunset and sunset. Mean solar day (Astron.), the mean or average of all the apparent solar days of the year. One day, One of these days, at an uncertain time, usually of the future, rarely of the past; sooner or later. ``Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband.'' --Shak. Only from day to day, without certainty of continuance; temporarily. --Bacon. Sidereal day, the interval between two successive transits of the first point of Aries over the same meridian. The Sidereal day is 23 h. 56 m. 4.09 s. of mean solar time. To win the day, to gain the victory, to be successful. --S. Butler. Week day, any day of the week except Sunday; a working day. Working day. (a) A day when work may be legally done, in distinction from Sundays and legal holidays. (b) The number of hours, determined by law or custom, during which a workman, hired at a stated price per day, must work to be entitled to a day's pay.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

Daily, every day.

Moby Thesaurus

again and again, cyclically, daily, day after day, epochally, every day, every hour, frequently, hour by hour, hourly, in time, many a time, many times, many times over, often, on the beat, over and over, periodically, recurrently, repeatedly, rhythmically, seasonally, several times, synchronously, time after time, time and again, times without number, year after year