Word Confusion: Buy vs By vs Bye

Plural for the noun: buys
Gerund: buying

Third person present verb: buys
Past tense or past participle: bought
Present participle: buying

Plural for the noun: byes

Alternative spelling: bye

Plural for the noun: byes

Alternative spelling: by

Something bought or to be bought

• Purchase

A bargain

Verb, intransitive:
To be or become a purchaser

Verb, transitive:
To acquire the possession of, or the right to, by paying or promising to pay an equivalent, especially in money

• Purchase

To acquire by exchange or concession

To hire or obtain the services of

To bribe

To be the monetary or purchasing equivalent of

[Chiefly Theology] To redeem

• Ransom

[Cards] To draw or be dealt (a card)

[Informal] To accept or believe

To be deceived by

Secondary, incidental

Adverb:
Near ¹

• In the immediate vicinity
• At hand

Away

• Aside

Passing a point near something

• Past

Over

• Past

[Bridge and other bidding card games; by me] A declaration that the speaker is passing

[Poker; by me] A declaration that the speaker is checking

[Scottish] Past ²

• Over and done with

[Scottish] Aside

• Behind one

Exclamation:
[Informal] Goodbye ³

Noun:
[Sports] In a tournament, the preferential status of a player or team not paired with a competitor in an early round and thus automatically advanced to play in the next round ²

[Golf] The holes of a stipulated course still unplayed after the match is finished

[Cricket] A run made on a ball not struck by the batsman

Something subsidiary, secondary, or out of the way

Prefix:
Secondary or incidental ¹

Preposition:
Near to or next to ¹

Over the surface of, through the medium of, along, or using as a route

On, as a means of conveyance

To and beyond the vicinity of

• Past

Within the extent or period of

• During

Not later than

• At or before

To the extent or amount of

From the opinion, evidence, or authority of

According to

• In conformity with

With (something) at stake

• On

To swear by all that is sacred

Through the agency, efficacy, work, participation, or authority of

From the hand, mind, invention, or creativity of

In consequence, as a result, or on the basis of

Accompanied with or in the atmosphere of

In treatment or support of

• For

After

• Next after, as of the same items in a series

[In multiplication] Taken the number of times as that specified by the second number, or multiplier

[In measuring shapes] Having an adjoining side of, as a width relative to a length

[In division] Separated into the number of equal parts as that specified by the second number, or divisor

In terms or amounts of

• In measuring units of

Begot or born of

[Of quadrupeds] Having as a sire

[Navigation; as used in the names of the 16 smallest points on the compass] One point toward the east, west, north, or south of N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, or NW, respectively

Into, at, or to

Used to indicate the agent after a passive verb ²

Used to indicate the person responsible for a creative work

Via

• Through

Followed by a gerund to indicate a means used

Passing the position of

• Past

Used to indicate extent, after a comparative

Secondary, incidental

Exclamation:
[Informal] Goodbye

Noun:
[Sports] In a tournament, the preferential status of a player or team not paired with a competitor in an early round and thus automatically advanced to play in the next round

[Golf] The holes of a stipulated course still unplayed after the match is finished

[Cricket] A run made on a ball not struck by the batsman

Something subsidiary, secondary, or out of the way

[Obsolete] Bee

The couch was a real buy.

Trust me, it’s a good buy.

They’re making that drug buy next week.

Verb, intransitive:
Now is a good time to buy.

“I used to be a much snootier reader,” she admits, “but I’m buying for a lot of different stores and a lot of different readers, so I have to be far more egalitarian.”

Now that he buys for them he doesn’t go overseas but he still works ridiculously long hours.

In her present position, she buys for the museum shop and marks inventory.

Verb, transitive:
I want to buy that couch.

Oh, please, it’s too easy to “buy” a drink with a little flirting.

The Yankees bought a new center fielder.

Most public officials cannot be bought.

Ten dollars buys less than it used to.

He knew that every good thing in this world, and in the next, was bought with blood and sacrifice.

He bought an ace.

I don’t buy that explanation.

Oh man, he bought the whole story.

It was only a by comment.

It’s just a by effect of all that drinking.

Adverb:
The school is close by.

The car drove by.

Put your work by for the moment.

Over the years, she laid by enough money to retire.

Oh yeah, in times gone by we could afford to buy a house.

The by column shows who was declarer.

Is my pair of tens still high? By me.

That’s a’ by now.

You must put that by you.

Exclamation:
By for now.

By now, come again sometime!

Wave by-by, honey.

Noun:
The top three seeded players received byes in the first round.

Craig’s Crew plays the by next week.

In the women’s event, Madina Zafar got by.

By-the-by, have you heard from Miranda?

It is usual for the loser of the by to buy the first drinks at the 19th hole afterwards.

Prefix:
Polar fleece is a by-product of recycling plastic soda bottles.

Keep these bystanders away.

Extra patrols and traffic units will police the highways and byways to prevent road deaths this weekend.

Go under the bypass and take the next exit.

The party will have to call a by-election.

Preposition:
I’d love a home by the lake.

He came by the highway.

She arrived by air.

They arrived by ship.

He went by the church.

She sleeps by day and works by night.

I usually finish work by five o’clock.

The new house is larger than the old one by a great deal.

He’s taller than his sister by three inches.

By his own account he was in Chicago at the time.

I know him by sight.

This is a bad movie by any standards.

Will you swear by all that you hold sacred?

The book was published by Random House.

She read a poem by Emily Dickinson.

The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison.

We met by chance.

We won the game by forfeit.

Lovers walk by moonlight.

He did well by his children.

It has to be put together piece by piece.

Little by little we managed to save it up.

Multiply 18 by 57.

It was a room 10 feet by 12 feet.

Divide 99 by 33.

Apples are sold by the bushel.

I’m paid by the week.

Eve had two sons by Adam.

That’s Equipoise II by Equipoise?

He sailed NE by N from Pago Pago.

Come by my office this afternoon.

All the seeds were eaten by the birds.

This piece is by Schubert.

She said to enter by the back door.

He frightened her by hiding behind the door.

He drove by the old cottage.

It is hotter by five degrees than it was yesterday.

Exclamation:
Tell Daddy bye bye.

Wave bye to Mommy.

Bye for now.

Noun:
A team that does not play at all during a given week is said to be on its bye week.

Cricket, with its googlies, boseys, chinamen, silly legs, byes, sundries — the whole argot — was incomprehensible without deep explanation.

Byes are always awarded in just the first round of the tournament.

He got a leg bye on that one.

By the bye, how was the dinner?

But all this is by the bye.

1. Before 900; Middle English ; Old English bī; cognate with the Dutch bij, the Old High German bī (the German bei), the Gothic bi.
2. Old English bī. It’s related to the Gothic bi, the Old High German bī, and the Sanskrit abhi meaning to, towards.
3. A shortening of bye.