forby

English

Alternative forms

• foreby [15th-16th c.]
• forbye

Etymology

From Middle English forby, forbi, of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, equivalent to fore- +‎ by. Compare Dutch voorbij (“past”), Low German vorbi, vörbi, German vorbei (“gone, past”), Danish forbi, Swedish förbi. More at fore, by.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /fəˈbʌɪ/

Adjective

forby (comparative more forby, superlative most forby)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Uncommon; out of the ordinary; superior.

   He's a forbye man.

Adverb

forby (comparative more forby, superlative most forby)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Past; by; beyond.
   • 1899, Richard Garnett, Alois Leonhard Brandl, The universal anthology:

     To see the world and folk that went forby, [...]

2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Uncommonly; exceptionally.

   He was forby kind.

Preposition

forby

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Beyond; past; more than; greater than; over and above; moreover.
2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) (of time) Past; gone by; over.
3. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Near; beside; by, close to.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

     Those were the two sonnes of Acrates old / Who meeting earst with Archimago slie, / Foreby that idle strond, of him were told, / That he, wich earst them combatted, was Guyon bold.

4. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) On one side; out of the way.
5. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Besides; in addition to; as well as; not to mention.

   There was other six forby me.

6. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) With the exception of; not taking into account.