逐渐地

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.

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).