aby

English[edit]

From Middle English abyen, abye,^[1] abien, abiggen,^[2] from Old English ābyćġan (“to buy, pay for, buy off, requite, recompense, redeem, perform, execute”), from ā- + bycgan (“to buy”),^[2] equivalent to a- +‎ buy. Cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usbugjan).^[3]

aby (third-person singular simple present abys, present participle abying, simple past and past participle abought)

(transitive, obsolete) To pay for; to buy. [12th-16th c.]^[3]
(transitive, archaic) To pay the penalty for; atone for. [from 12th c.]^[3]
- Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear. - Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, III,ii
(intransitive, obsolete) To pay the penalty; atone; to suffer, as a penalty. [12th-16th c.]^[3]
- 1896, William Morris, The Earthly Paradise:
  
  Thou wouldst abye a heavy fate.
(transitive, archaic) To pay as penalty, to suffer. [from 12th c.]^[3]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:
  
  Who dyes, the utmost dolor doth abye; / But who that lives is lefte to waile his losse [...].
(intransitive, obsolete) Endure; remain. [14th-16th c.]^[3]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, volume III:
  
  Nought that wanteth rest can long aby.
(transitive, obsolete, now Scotland) Endure; experience; tolerate. [from 16th c.]^[3]
- 1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour:
  
  I never could abye the reek of them.

^ 1984 [1975], Urdang, Laurence editor, The Random House College Dictionary, New York, NY: Random House, Inc., ISBN 0-394-43600-8, page 7:
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 1976 [1909], Gove, Philip Babcock editor, Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co., ISBN 0-87779-101-5, page 8:
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 2003 [1933], Brown, Lesley editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, edition 5th, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7, page 11:

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