BY-AND-BY Definition & Meaning

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by-and-by

[ bahy-uhn-bahy ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the future:
to meet in the sweet by-and-by.

by and by

adverb

presently or eventually

noun

a future time or occasion

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of by-and-by¹

1300–50; Middle English bi and bi one by one, at once. See by

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Idioms and Phrases

After a while, soon, as in She'll be along by and by . The expression probably relies on the meaning of by as a succession of quantities (as in “two by two”). This adverbial phrase came to be used as a noun, denoting either procrastination or the future. William Camden so used it for the former ( Remains , 1605): “Two anons and a by and by is an hour and a half.” And W.S. Gilbert used it in the latter sense when Lady Jane sings plaintively that little will be left of her “in the coming by and by,” that is, as she grows old ( Patience , 1881). [Early 1500s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“Yes, she owned she had a trouble, and promised to tell me by-and-by. I said no more, for I think I know it,” and Jo told her little story.

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I refused to say it the southern hymn way—“the sweet by-and-by.”

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Congress lets multinationals earn profits today but pay their taxes by-and-by.

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“You will see by-and-by the evidence upon which I rely.”

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No," he replied; "I will come back by-and-by.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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