To stand by

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Stand \Stand\ (st[a^]nd), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Stood}
   (st[oo^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Standing}.] [OE. standen; AS.
   standan; akin to OFries. stonda, st[=a]n, D. staan, OS.
   standan, st[=a]n, OHG. stantan, st[=a]n, G. stehen, Icel.
   standa, Dan. staae, Sw. st[*a], Goth. standan, Russ. stoiate,
   L. stare, Gr. 'ista`nai to cause to stand, sth^nai to stand,
   Skr. sth[=a]. [root]163. Cf. {Assist}, {Constant},
   {Contrast}, {Desist}, {Destine}, {Ecstasy}, {Exist},
   {Interstice}, {Obstacle}, {Obstinate}, {Prest}, n., {Rest}
   remainder, {Solstice}, {Stable}, a. & n., {Staff}, {Stage},
   {Stall}, n., {Stamen}, {Stanchion}, {Stanza}, {State}, n.,
   {Statute}, {Stead}, {Steed}, {Stool}, {Stud} of horses,
   {Substance}, {System}.]
   1. To be at rest in an erect position; to be fixed in an
      upright or firm position; as:
      (a) To be supported on the feet, in an erect or nearly
          erect position; -- opposed to {lie}, {sit}, {kneel},
          etc. "I pray you all, stand up!" --Shak.
      (b) To continue upright in a certain locality, as a tree
          fixed by the roots, or a building resting on its
          foundation.
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                It stands as it were to the ground yglued.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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                The ruined wall
                Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone.
                                                  --Byron.
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   2. To occupy or hold a place; to have a situation; to be
      situated or located; as, Paris stands on the Seine.
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            Wite ye not where there stands a little town?
                                                  --Chaucer.
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   3. To cease from progress; not to proceed; to stop; to pause;
      to halt; to remain stationary.
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            I charge thee, stand,
            And tell thy name.                    --Dryden.
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            The star, which they saw in the east, went before
            them, till it came and stood over where the young
            child was.                            --Matt. ii. 9.
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   4. To remain without ruin or injury; to hold good against
      tendencies to impair or injure; to be permanent; to
      endure; to last; hence, to find endurance, strength, or
      resources.
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            My mind on its own center stands unmoved. --Dryden.
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   5. To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or
      yield; to be safe.
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            Readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall.
                                                  --Spectator.
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   6. To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be
      fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance
      or opposition. "The standing pattern of their imitation."
      --South.
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            The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves
            together, and to stand for their life. --Esther
                                                  viii. 11.
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   7. To adhere to fixed principles; to maintain moral
      rectitude; to keep from falling into error or vice.
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            We must labor so as to stand with godliness,
            according to his appointment.         --Latimer.
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   8. To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a
      particular relation; as, Christian charity, or love,
      stands first in the rank of gifts.
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   9. To be in some particular state; to have essence or being;
      to be; to consist. "Sacrifices . . . which stood only in
      meats and drinks." --Heb. ix. 10.
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            Accomplish what your signs foreshow;
            I stand resigned, and am prepared to go. --Dryden.
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            Thou seest how it stands with me, and that I may not
            tarry.                                --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   10. To be consistent; to agree; to accord.
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             Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing
             But what may stand with honor.       --Massinger.
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   11. (Naut.) To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the
       shore; to stand for the harbor.
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             From the same parts of heaven his navy stands.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   12. To offer one's self, or to be offered, as a candidate.
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             He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the
             university.                          --Walton.
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   13. To stagnate; not to flow; to be motionless.
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             Or the black water of Pomptina stands. --Dryden.
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   14. To measure when erect on the feet.
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             Six feet two, as I think, he stands. --Tennyson.
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   15. (Law)
       (a) To be or remain as it is; to continue in force; to
           have efficacy or validity; to abide. --Bouvier.
       (b) To appear in court. --Burrill.
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   16. (Card Playing) To be, or signify that one is, willing to
       play with one's hand as dealt.
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   {Stand by} (Naut.), a preparatory order, equivalent to {Be
      ready}.

   {To stand against}, to oppose; to resist.

   {To stand by}.
       (a) To be near; to be a spectator; to be present.
       (b) To be aside; to be set aside with disregard. "In the
           interim [we] let the commands stand by neglected."
           --Dr. H. More.
       (c) To maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert;
           as, to stand by one's principles or party.
       (d) To rest on for support; to be supported by.
           --Whitgift.
       (e) To remain as a spectator, and take no part in an
           action; as, we can't just stand idly by while people
           are being killed.

   {To stand corrected}, to be set right, as after an error in a
      statement of fact; to admit having been in error.
      --Wycherley.

   {To stand fast}, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable.

   {To stand firmly on}, to be satisfied or convinced of.
      "Though Page be a secure fool, and stands so firmly on his
      wife's frailty." --Shak.

   {To stand for}.
       (a) To side with; to espouse the cause of; to support; to
           maintain, or to profess or attempt to maintain; to
           defend. "I stand wholly for you." --Shak.
       (b) To be in the place of; to be the substitute or
           representative of; to represent; as, a cipher at the
           left hand of a figure stands for nothing. "I will not
           trouble myself, whether these names stand for the
           same thing, or really include one another." --Locke.
       (c) To tolerate; as, I won't stand for any delay.

   {To stand in}, to cost. "The same standeth them in much less
      cost." --Robynson (More's Utopia).

            The Punic wars could not have stood the human race
            in less than three millions of the species. --Burke.

   {To stand in hand}, to conduce to one's interest; to be
      serviceable or advantageous.

   {To stand off}.
       (a) To keep at a distance.
       (b) Not to comply.
       (c) To keep at a distance in friendship, social
           intercourse, or acquaintance.
       (d) To appear prominent; to have relief. "Picture is best
           when it standeth off, as if it were carved." --Sir H.
           Wotton.

   {To stand off and on} (Naut.), to remain near a coast by
      sailing toward land and then from it.

   {To stand on} (Naut.), to continue on the same tack or
      course.

   {To stand out}.
       (a) To project; to be prominent. "Their eyes stand out
           with fatness." --Psalm lxxiii. 7.
       (b) To persist in opposition or resistance; not to yield
           or comply; not to give way or recede.

                 His spirit is come in,
                 That so stood out against the holy church.
                                                  --Shak.

   {To stand to}.
       (a) To ply; to urge; to persevere in using. "Stand to
           your tackles, mates, and stretch your oars."
           --Dryden.
       (b) To remain fixed in a purpose or opinion. "I will
           stand to it, that this is his sense." --Bp.
           Stillingfleet.
       (c) To abide by; to adhere to; as to a contract,
           assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award;
           to stand to one's word.
       (d) Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain, as one's
           ground. "Their lives and fortunes were put in safety,
           whether they stood to it or ran away." --Bacon.
       (e) To be consistent with; to agree with; as, it stands
           to reason that he could not have done so; same as
           {stand with}, below .
       (f) To support; to uphold. "Stand to me in this cause."
           --Shak.

   {To stand together}, to be consistent; to agree.

   {To stand to reason} to be reasonable; to be expected.

   {To stand to sea} (Naut.), to direct the course from land.

   {To stand under}, to undergo; to withstand. --Shak.

   {To stand up}.
       (a) To rise from sitting; to be on the feet.
       (b) To arise in order to speak or act. "Against whom,
           when the accusers stood up, they brought none
           accusation of such things as I supposed." --Acts xxv.
           18.
       (c) To rise and stand on end, as the hair.
       (d) To put one's self in opposition; to contend. "Once we
           stood up about the corn." --Shak.

   {To stand up for}, to defend; to justify; to support, or
      attempt to support; as, to stand up for the
      administration.

   {To stand upon}.
       (a) To concern; to interest.
       (b) To value; to esteem. "We highly esteem and stand much
           upon our birth." --Ray.
       (c) To insist on; to attach much importance to; as, to
           stand upon security; to stand upon ceremony.
       (d) To attack; to assault. [A Hebraism] "So I stood upon
           him, and slew him." --2 Sam. i. 10.

   {To stand with}, to be consistent with. "It stands with
      reason that they should be rewarded liberally." --Sir J.
      Davies.
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from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[imac], big, near to, by,
   of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
   D. bij, OHG. b[imac], 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.
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            By foundation or by shady rivulet
            He sought them both.                  --Milton.
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   2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.
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            Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.
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            By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.
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   3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
      of; past; as, to go by a church.
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   4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
      feet by forty.
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   5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].
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   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.
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   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.
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   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.
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   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}.
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   {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.
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   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).
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