What is the definition of by?

Answer 1

Prepositionby

1. Near or next to. The mailbox is by the bus stop.
2. At some time before (the given time), or before the end of a given time interval. Be back by ten o'clock!We will send it by the first week of July.
3. (Indicates the actor in a clause with its verb in the passive voice) Through the action or presence of. The matter was decided by the chairman.The boat was swamped by the water.He was protected by his body armour.
4. (Indicates the creator of a work) Existing through the authorship etc of. There are many well-known plays byWilliam Shakespeare
5. (Indicates the cause of a condition or event) Through the action of, caused by, responsibility for; by dint of. 1874 Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd, 2005 Barnes & Noble Classics publication of 1912 Wessex edition, p109:
   • In other directions the fields and sky were so much of one colour by the snow that it was difficult in a hasty glance to tell whereabouts the horizon occurred [...]
6. (Indicates a means) Involving/using the means of. I avoided the guards by moving only when they weren't looking.
7. (Indicates a rule followed) Using the rules or logic of. I sorted the items by category.
8. (Indicates the amount of some progression) With a change of. Our stock is up by ten percent.
9. (In the formulae X by X and by Xs, indicates a steady progression, one X after another.) We went through the book page by page.We crawled forward byinches.
10. (Indicates an oath) With the authority of. By Jove! I think she's got it!By all that is holy, I'll put an end to this.
11. Used to separate dimensions when describing the size of something. It is easy to invert a 2 by 2 matrix.The room was about 4 foot by 6 foot.We used 10 by 20 by 30 cm bricks to build the wall."