part of speech:	preposition
definition 1:	"By" sometimes means "next to." If a house is by the lake, it means that the house is next to the lake. Jason and I sat down by the tree and ate our lunch.
definition 2:	We sometimes use the word "by" to talk about how we do something or what we use to do something. When you travel by car, it means that you use a car to go somewhere. We traveled by train when we went to visit my grandmother.
definition 3:	"By" sometimes means "past," as in "going past" something. If the bus goes by your house, it means that the bus goes past your house. Raven went by my house on her bike, and she waved at me.
definition 4:	If a painting is by your mother, it means that her work created that painting. If a book is by a certain author, it means that this author wrote that book. Damien's dad only likes to listen to songs by his favorite singers. He doesn't listen to new music much.
definition 5:	"By" means at or before a certain time. We were lucky to get to school by eight o'clock.
definition 6:	We sometimes use "by" to tell who or what did some action. If the cookies were baked by you and your dad, then you and your dad did the action of the baking. Max's dog was hit by a car, but he's OK.
definition 7:	If you play by the rules, it means you play the way the rules tell you to play. We got lost on our trip because we didn't go by the map.
definition 8:	"By" sometime means "during." If you study by day, it means that you study during the day. Many animals hunt by night and sleep by day.
related words:	through

part of speech:	adverb
definition:	"By" means past. When a car drives by, it means that the car drives past. We were late to pick up my mom because we had to wait for a train to go by.Time goes by very fast sometimes, but sometimes it goes by slowly.

Homophone Note

Are you looking for the word buy (to purchase)? By and buy sound alike but have different meanings.

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