stand by

See also: stand-by and standby

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)

1. (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.”

2. (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.

3. (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.

4. (intransitive) To do nothing. To be inactive in a situation.

   I can't simply stand by and watch you ruin your life.

5. (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

Translations

to wait in expectation of some event

• Finnish: olla valmiina
• French: se tenir prêt
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: være parat, være klar, følge med

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: esperar (pt)
• Russian: быть в ожида́нии (bytʹ v ožidánii)
• Spanish: esperar (es)

to remain loyal or faithful

• Finnish: pysyä uskollisena, tukea (fi)
• French: rester fidèle à, maintenir (fr), s’en tenir à
• Hungarian: kitart (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stå ved, stå fast ved

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: стоя́ть за (stojátʹ za)
• Swedish: stå fast vid

to support someone

• Finnish: seisoa rinnalla, tukea (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: подде́рживать (ru) (poddérživatʹ)

to do nothing. To be inactive in a situation

• Finnish: seistä (fi), katsoa vierestä
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: безде́йствовать (ru) (bezdéjstvovatʹ)

to be ready to provide assistance

• Finnish: olla valmiina
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stå bi

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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

• German: ^{(please verify)} stehen Sie bereit, ^{(please verify)} bereitstehen (de)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} esser presente, ^{(please verify)} tener se preste, ^{(please verify)} in reserva
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} fare una pausa
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} astepta
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} hacer una pausa