Forms: 1–2 biwyrde, -word, 4–6 by-worde, 6 by-woorde, bie-word, 6–9 bye-word(e, 6– by-word. [f. BY a. 2 + WORD.]
1. A proverb, proverbial saying.
c. 1050. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 470. Prouerbium, biwyrde.
a. 1131. O. E. Chron., an. 1130. Oc man seið to biworde, hæʓe sitteð þa aceres dæleth.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 769. For which ful oft a by worde here I seye, That rooteles mot grene soone deye.
c. 1400. Beryn, 2243. There is a comyn by word … Wele sellith he his peny that the pound therby savith.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 48. Is it not a by word, like will to like.
1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 99. As honest as goodman Andrews, was a bye-word.
1849. Blackw. Mag., 686. An old byword, which says more people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows.
† b. A parable. Obs.
c. 1550. Cheke, Matt. xiii. 3. He spaak vnto yem much in biwordes and said.
2. A person or thing who becomes proverbial, as a type of specified characteristics; an object of scorn or contempt.
1535. Coverdale, Deut. xxviii. 37. Thou shalt go to waist, and become a byworde, and a laughinge stocke amonge all nacions.
1575–85. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 349. Marked like Cain … to be a bye-word, and an example of Gods justice to all the world.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings ix. 7. Israel shall bee a prouerbe, and a by-word among all people.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, II. 277. I am the talk and the bye-word of half the county.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. I. x. 116. Apothecaries’ profit is become a bye-word.
1867. Froude, Short Stud. (1883), IV. II. vi. 252. The Church courts were a byword for iniquity in every country in Europe.
b. A nickname, byname, epithet of scorn.
1598. Drayton, Heroic. Epist., xiii. 104. Give a thousand by-words to my Name, And call me Beldam, Gib, Witch, Nightmare, Trot.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 70. These Doctrines which he traduces under that by-word [i.e., Calvinism].
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. xiv. Her [Venice’s] very byword sprung from victory, The ‘Planter of the Lion.’
† 3. A word or phrase of frequent occurrence in speech, esp. in the mouth of a particular individual; a trick of speech, pet phrase. Obs.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1631), III. x. 106/1. [Bonner] saying, as his by word was, Before God thou art a knaue.
1575. Gascoigne, Philomene (Arb.), 111. This byword phy betokneth bad, And things to cast away.
1651. Proc. Parliament, No. 104. 1612. Broke his brain with thinking there was something in it, some ‘whatchecal e,’ which is his by-word.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 241, ¶ 8. His By-Words (as they call a Sentence a Man particularly affects).
† b. A watchword, signal. Obs.
1494. Fabyan, V. lxxxix. 66. He gaue to theym this watche or by worde, ‘Nempnyth your Sexis.’
† 4. (cf. BY-TALK and BY- III): A casual word, a hint; a word beside the matter in hand. Obs.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 18 b. He saied emong his frendes; I would haue bought a robe, if I had had money. He craued nothyng, but did onely after a maidenly sorte geue a bywoorde of his greate penurie.
1572. Forrest, Theophil., 540. What though a bye worde, unwares, doe owte starte.
a. 1652. Brome, City Wit, III. ii. 322. There is no woman, though she use never so many bywords, but yet in the end she will come to the point.
1658. Whole Duty Man, iv. § 13. 41. In idle by-words.
