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noun 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." "There is a mean in all things." "The extremes we have mentioned, between which the wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are correlatives." 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. 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." "You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements." "Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean." 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." "What other means is left unto us." 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." 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." 6.Meantime; meanwhile. (Obs.) 7.A mediator; a go-between. (Obs.) "He wooeth her by means and by brokage." 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." 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."
preposition By prep. 1.In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from; close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. "By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them both." 2.On; along; in traversing. Compare 5. "Long labors both by sea and land he bore." "By land, by water, they renew the charge." 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. 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." (b)Immediately; at once. (Obs.) "When... persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended." (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).
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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