stand by
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Verb
stand by (third-person singular simple present stands by, present participle standing by, simple past and past participle stood by)
- (idiomatic, intransitive) To wait in expectation of some event; to make ready.
- Please stand by for more instructions.
- 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:
- It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. […] You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentary stuff.”
- (idiomatic, transitive) To remain loyal or faithful to.
- Even though money is scarce sometimes, Ann stands by her decision to be a full-time mother.
- 2014 August 20, “Why Jews are worried [print version: International New York Times, 22 August 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times[1]:
- [W]hen a Hamas spokesman recently stood by his statement that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish children for their matzos – one of the oldest anti-Semitic canards around – European elites were largely silent.
- (idiomatic, transitive) To support; to continue to support despite things being bad.
- They stood by us all along and it's awesome to see them out here to support us today.
- (intransitive) To do nothing. To be inactive in a situation.
- I can't simply stand by and watch you ruin your life.
- (intransitive) to be ready to provide assistance if required.
- The tug stood by in case it was needed.
Synonyms
- (wait in expectation of some event): hang on, stay; See also Thesaurus:wait
- (remain faithful): go to the wall for someone (UK, idiomatic), keep faith
- (support): uphold
- (do nothing): lallygag, waste time; See also Thesaurus:loiter
- (be ready to provide assistance):
Descendants
- → Tagalog: istambay(Please either change this template to {{desc}} or insert a ====Descendants==== section in istambay#Tagalog)
Translations
to wait in expectation of some event
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to remain loyal or faithful
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to support someone
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to do nothing. To be inactive in a situation
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to be ready to provide assistance
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Categories:
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English phrasal verbs
- English phrasal verbs formed with "by"
- English multiword terms
- English idioms
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English transitive verbs
- English phrasal verbs with particle (by)