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by the bye

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: by-the-bye

English

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Prepositional phrase

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by the bye

  1. Alternative spelling of by the by.
    • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer:
      Well, remember, I insist on the terms of our agreement; and, by the bye, I believe I shall have occasion to try your obedience this very evening.
    • 1851, George Wilson, The Life of the Hon. Henry Cavendish[1], page 169:
      The following account of Cavendish is from one of our most accomplished chemists, who communicated it orally to Mr. Tomlinson, from whom I received it. “When I was a very young man—a new Fellow of the Royal Society—I always looked upon it as a great honour to be noticed by Cavendish, and so did the other young members of the society. We used to dine at the Crown and Anchor, and Cavendish often dined with us. He came slouching in, one hand behind his back, and taking off his hat (which by the bye he always hung up on one particular peg), he sat down without taking notice of anybody. If you attempted to draw him into conversation he always fought shy. Dr. Wollaston’s directions I found to succeed best. He said, ‘the way to talk to Cavendish is never to look at him, but to talk as it were into vacancy, and then it is not unlikely but you may set him going!’”