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22 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
Mean \Mean\, n.
1. That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes
of place, time, or number; the middle point or place;
middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of
extremes or excess; moderation; measure.
[1913 Webster]
But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is
temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude.
--Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
There is a mean in all things. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
The extremes we have mentioned, between which the
wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are
correlatives. --I. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Math.) A quantity having an intermediate value between
several others, from which it is derived, and of which it
expresses the resultant value; usually, unless otherwise
specified, it is the simple average, formed by adding the
quantities together and dividing by their number, which is
called an arithmetical mean. A geometrical mean is the
nth root of the product of the n quantities being
averaged.
[1913 Webster]
3. That through which, or by the help of which, an end is
attained; something tending to an object desired;
intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or
coagent; instrument.
[1913 Webster]
Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the
conversion of the heathen to Christ. --Hooker.
[1913 Webster]
You may be able, by this mean, to review your own
scientific acquirements. --Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. --Sir
W. Hamilton.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In this sense the word is usually employed in the
plural form means, and often with a singular attribute
or predicate, as if a singular noun.
[1913 Webster]
By this means he had them more at vantage.
--Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
What other means is left unto us. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. pl. Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like,
considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an
instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose;
disposable force or substance.
[1913 Webster]
Your means are very slender, and your waste is
great. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Mus.) A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between
the soprano and base; a middle part. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
The mean is drowned with your unruly base. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
6. Meantime; meanwhile. [Obs.] --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
7. A mediator; a go-between. [Obs.] --Piers Plowman.
[1913 Webster]
He wooeth her by means and by brokage. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
By all means, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all
means.
By any means, in any way; possibly; at all.
[1913 Webster]
If by any means I might attain to the resurrection
of the dead. --Phil. iii.
ll.
[1913 Webster]
By no means, or By no manner of means, not at all;
certainly not; not in any degree.
[1913 Webster]
The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so
good as that on the other. --Addison.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 : [ gcide ]
By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[=i], big, near to, by,
of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
D. bij, OHG. b[=i], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`.
E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref.
Be-.]
1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from;
close to; along with; as, come and sit by me.
[1913 Webster]
By foundation or by shady rivulet
He sought them both. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
[1913 Webster]
Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
of; past; as, to go by a church.
[1913 Webster]
4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
feet by forty.
[1913 Webster]
5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].
[1913 Webster]
6. With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with
aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city
is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take
by force.
[1913 Webster]
Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency,
belong, more or less closely, most of the following
uses of the word:
(a) It points out the author and producer; as,
``Waverley'', a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by
Canova; a sonata by Beethoven.
(b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or
thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by
all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a
Christian; no, by Heaven.
(c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of;
after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his
account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a
model to build by.
(d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion
of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth
by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen,
meat by the pound; to board by the year.
(e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or
deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished,
it indicates the measure of increase or diminution;
as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen
by a third.
(f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the
course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night.
(g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in
expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had
risen; he will be here by two o'clock.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to,
or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east,
i.e., a point towards the east from the north;
northeast by east, i.e., on point nearer the east than
northeast is.
[1913 Webster]
Note: With is used instead of by before the instrument with
which anything is done; as, to beat one with a stick;
the board was fastened by the carpenter with nails. But
there are many words which may be regarded as means or
processes, or, figuratively, as instruments; and
whether with or by shall be used with them is a matter
of arbitrary, and often, of unsettled usage; as, to a
reduce a town by famine; to consume stubble with fire;
he gained his purpose by flattery; he entertained them
with a story; he distressed us with or by a recital of
his sufferings. see With.
[1913 Webster]
By all means, most assuredly; without fail; certainly.
By and by.
(a) Close together (of place). [Obs.] ``Two yonge knightes
liggyng [lying] by and by.'' --Chaucer.
(b) Immediately; at once. [Obs.] ``When . . . persecution
ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
offended.'' --Matt. xiii. 21.
(c) Presently; pretty soon; before long.
Note: In this phrase, by seems to be used in the sense of
nearness in time, and to be repeated for the sake of
emphasis, and thus to be equivalent to ``soon, and
soon,'' that is instantly; hence, -- less emphatically,
-- pretty soon, presently.
By one's self, with only one's self near; alone; solitary.
By the bye. See under Bye.
By the head (Naut.), having the bows lower than the stern;
-- said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water
than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is by the
stern.
By the lee, the situation of a vessel, going free, when she
has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her
stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.
By the run, to let go by the run, to let go altogether,
instead of slacking off.
By the way, by the bye; -- used to introduce an incidental
or secondary remark or subject.
Day by day, One by one, Piece by piece, etc., each day,
each one, each piece, etc., by itself singly or
separately; each severally.
To come by, to get possession of; to obtain.
To do by, to treat, to behave toward.
To set by, to value, to esteem.
To stand by, to aid, to support.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The common phrase good-by is equivalent to farewell,
and would be better written good-bye, as it is a
corruption of God be with you (b'w'ye).
[1913 Webster]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[=i], big, near to, by,
of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
D. bij, OHG. b[=i], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`.
E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref.
Be-.]
1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from;
close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. [1913
Webster]
By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them
both. --Milton.
2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.
By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.
3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
of; past; as, to go by a church.
4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
feet by forty.
5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].
6. With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with
aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city
is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take
by force.
Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency,
belong, more or less closely, most of the following
uses of the word:
(a) It points out the author and producer; as,
``Waverley'', a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by
Canova; a sonata by Beethoven.
(b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or
thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by
all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a
Christian; no, by Heaven.
(c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of;
after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his
account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a
model to build by.
(d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion
of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth
by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen,
meat by the pound; to board by the year.
(e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or
deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished,
it indicates the measure of increase or diminution;
as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen
by a third.
(f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the
course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night.
(g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in
expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had
risen; he will be here by two o'clock.
Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to,
or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east,
i.e., a point towards the east from the north;
northeast by east, i.e., on point nearer the east than
northeast is.
Note: With is used instead of by before the instrument with
which anything is done; as, to beat one with a stick;
the board was fastened by the carpenter with nails. But
there are many words which may be regarded as means or
processes, or, figuratively, as instruments; and
whether with or by shall be used with them is a matter
of arbitrary, and often, of unsettled usage; as, to a
reduce a town by famine; to consume stubble with fire;
he gained his purpose by flattery; he entertained them
with a story; he distressed us with or by a recital of
his sufferings. see With.
By all means, most assuredly; without fail; certainly.
By and by.
(a) Close together (of place). [Obs.] ``Two yonge knightes
liggyng [lying] by and by.'' --Chaucer.
(b) Immediately; at once. [Obs.] ``When . . . persecution
ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
offended.'' --Matt. xiii. 21.
(c) Presently; pretty soon; before long.
Note: In this phrase, by seems to be used in the sense of
nearness in time, and to be repeated for the sake of
emphasis, and thus to be equivalent to ``soon, and
soon,'' that is instantly; hence, -- less emphatically,
-- pretty soon, presently.
By one's self, with only one's self near; alone; solitary.
By the bye. See under Bye.
By the head (Naut.), having the bows lower than the stern;
-- said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water
than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is by the
stern.
By the lee, the situation of a vessel, going free, when she
has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her
stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.
By the run, to let go by the run, to let go altogether,
instead of slacking off.
By the way, by the bye; -- used to introduce an incidental
or secondary remark or subject.
Day by day, One by one, Piece by piece, etc., each day,
each one, each piece, etc., by itself singly or
separately; each severally.
To come by, to get possession of; to obtain.
To do by, to treat, to behave toward.
To set by, to value, to esteem.
To stand by, to aid, to support.
Note: The common phrase good-by is equivalent to farewell,
and would be better written good-bye, as it is a
corruption of God be with you (b'w'ye).
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) : [ web1913 ]
Mean \Mean\, n.
1. That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes
of place, time, or number; the middle point or place;
middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of
extremes or excess; moderation; measure.
But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is
temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude.
--Bacon.
There is a mean in all things. --Dryden.
The extremes we have mentioned, between which the
wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are
correlatives. --I. Taylor.
2. (Math.) A quantity having an intermediate value between
several others, from which it is derived, and of which it
expresses the resultant value; usually, unless otherwise
specified, it is the simple average, formed by adding the
quantities together and dividing by their number, which is
called an arithmetical mean. A geometrical mean is the
square root of the product of the quantities.
3. That through which, or by the help of which, an end is
attained; something tending to an object desired;
intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or
coagent; instrument.
Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the
conversion of the heathen to Christ. --Hooker.
You may be able, by this mean, to review your own
scientific acquirements. --Coleridge.
Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. --Sir
W. Hamilton.
Note: In this sense the word is usually employed in the
plural form means, and often with a singular attribute
or predicate, as if a singular noun.
By this means he had them more at vantage.
--Bacon.
What other means is left unto us. --Shak.
4. pl. Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like,
considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an
instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose;
disposable force or substance.
Your means are very slender, and your waste is
great. --Shak.
5. (Mus.) A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between
the soprano and base; a middle part. [Obs.]
The mean is drowned with your unruly base. --Shak.
6. Meantime; meanwhile. [Obs.] --Spenser.
7. A mediator; a go-between. [Obs.] --Piers Plowman.
He wooeth her by means and by brokage. --Chaucer.
By all means, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all
means.
By any means, in any way; possibly; at all.
If by any means I might attain to the resurrection
of the dead. --Phil. iii.
ll.
By no means, or By no manner of means, not at all;
certainly not; not in any degree.
The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so
good as that on the other. --Addison.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 : [ wn ]
by all means
adv : definitely or certainly; "Visit us by all means" [ant: by
no means]
From English Wiktionary: All languages (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-ALL-2023-07-27 ]
by all means
prep.phr.
emphatic yes; certainly; definitely.
From English Wiktionary: English language only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-en-2023-07-27 ]
by all means
prep.phr.
emphatic yes; certainly; definitely.
From English Wiktionary: Western, Greek, and Slavonic languages only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-Western_Greek_Slavonic-2023-07-27 ]
by all means
prep.phr.
emphatic yes; certainly; definitely.
From English Wiktionary: Western languages only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-Western-2023-07-27 ]
by all means
prep.phr.
emphatic yes; certainly; definitely.
From English-Czech dicts.info/FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.1.3 : [ freedict:eng-ces ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
všemožně
From English - German Ding/FreeDict dictionary ver. 1.9-fd1 : [ freedict:eng-deu ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
unter allen Umständen
From English - German Ding/FreeDict dictionary ver. 1.9-fd1 : [ freedict:eng-deu ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
durchaus
see: by no means
From English - German Ding/FreeDict dictionary ver. 1.9-fd1 : [ freedict:eng-deu ]
By all means! /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
Aber ja!
Synonym: Yes, indeed!
From English - Modern Greek XDXF/FreeDict dictionary ver. 0.1.1 : [ freedict:eng-ell ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
παρακαλώ
From English-suomi FreeDict+WikDict dictionary ver. 2023.05.29 : [ freedict:eng-fin ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
ihmeessä, kaikin mokomin
emphatically yes, definitely
From English-Croatian FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.2.2 : [ freedict:eng-hrv ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
svim sredstvima
From English-Hungarian FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.2.1 : [ freedict:eng-hun ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
1. mindenképpen
2. mindenesetre
3. feltétlenül
From English-日本語 (にほんご) FreeDict+WikDict dictionary ver. 2023.05.29 : [ freedict:eng-jpn ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
きっと, どうしても
emphatically yes, definitely
From English-Svenska FreeDict+WikDict dictionary ver. 2023.05.29 : [ freedict:eng-swe ]
by all means /baɪ ˈɔːl mˈiːnz/
för all del
emphatically yes, definitely
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 : [ moby-thesaurus ]
70 Moby Thesaurus words for "by all means":
OK, Roger, absolutely, all right, alright, alrighty, amen,
and no mistake, as you say, assuredly, at all events, at any rate,
aye, certainly, clearly, da, decidedly, decisively, definitely,
distinctly, exactly, fine, for a certainty, for a fact,
for certain, for sure, forsooth, good, good enough, hear, in truth,
indeed, indeedy, ja, just so, mais oui, most assuredly,
most certainly, naturally, naturellement, nothing else but,
of course, okay, oui, positively, precisely, quite, rather, really,
right, righto, sure, sure thing, surely, to a certainty,
to be sure, truly, unequivocally, unmistakably, very well,
well and good, why yes, yea, yeah, yep, yes, yes indeed,
yes indeedy, yes sir, yes sirree
From Stardic English-Chinese Dictionary : [ stardic ]
尽一切办法；一定
From XDICT the English-Chinese dictionary : [ xdict ]
想方设法,务必;当然可以
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