stand by

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See also: stand-by and standby

English

Pronunciation

  • Audio (AU)(file)

Verb

stand by (third-person singular simple present stands by, present participle standing by, simple past and past participle stood by)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To wait in expectation of some event; to be ready.
    Synonyms: hang on, stay; see also Thesaurus:wait
    Please stand by for more instructions.
    • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:
      It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. […] You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentary stuff.”
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To remain loyal or faithful to.
    Synonyms: (UK, idiomatic) go to the wall for someone; keep faith
    Even though money is scarce sometimes, Ann stands by her decision to be a full-time mother.
    • 2014 August 20, “Why Jews are worried [print version: International New York Times, 22 August 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times‎:
      [W]hen a Hamas spokesman recently stood by his statement that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish children for their matzos – one of the oldest anti-Semitic canards around – European elites were largely silent.
  3. (idiomatic, transitive) To support; to continue to support despite things being bad.
    Synonym: uphold
    They stood by us all along and it's awesome to see them out here to support us today.
  4. (intransitive) To do nothing. To be inactive in a situation.
    Synonyms: lallygag, waste time; see also Thesaurus:loiter
    I can't simply stand by and watch you ruin your life.

Descendants

  • → Cebuano: estambay, tambay
  • → Tagalog: istambay, tambay

Translations

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See also

References

Wikious
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