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By-the-by

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En passant, laterally connected with the main subject. “By-play” is side or secondary play; “By-lanes and streets” are those which branch out of the main thoroughfare. The first “by” means passing from one to another, as in the phrase “Day by day.” Thus “By-the-by” is passing from the main subject to a by or secondary one.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Buying a Pig in a Poke
Buzfuz (Serjeant)
Buzz
Buzz (A)
Buzzard (The)
By
By-and-by
Bygones
By-laws
By-road (A)
By-the-by
By-the-way
Byron
Byrsa
Byzantine Art
Byzantine Empire (The)
Byzantine Historians
Byzantines
C