forby

English

Alternative forms

• foreby [15th–16th c.]
• forbye

Etymology

From Middle English forby, forbi, of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, equivalent to fore- +‎ by. Compare Saterland Frisian foarbie (“beyond, past”), Dutch voorbij (“past”), Low German vörbi, German vorbei (“gone, past”), Danish forbi, Swedish förbi. More at fore, by.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fəˈbʌɪ/

Adjective

forby (comparative more forby, superlative most forby)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Uncommon; out of the ordinary; extraordinary; superior.

   He's a forbye man.

Adverb

forby (comparative more forby, superlative most forby)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Past; by; beyond.
   • 1899, Richard Garnett, Alois Leonhard Brandl, The universal anthology:

     To see the world and folk that went forby, […]

2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Uncommonly; exceptionally.

   He was forby kind.

Preposition

forby

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Beyond; past; more than; greater than; over and above; moreover.
2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic, of time) Past; gone by; over.
3. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Near; beside; by, close to.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Those were the two sonnes of Acrates old / Who meeting earst with Archimago slie, / Foreby that idle strond, of him were told, / That he, wich earst them combatted, was Guyon bold.

4. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) On one side; out of the way.
5. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Besides; in addition to; as well as; not to mention.

   There was other six forby me.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 173:

     "Put on your dress, ye shameless witch, standin' there in your pelt I'll take a strap to, for havin' the conceit out of you, forby your idling had lost me the sup of gin to keep the breath of life in me."

6. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) With the exception of; not taking into account.

Synonyms

• (near): next to
• (besides): beyond, on top of; see also Thesaurus:in addition to
• (with the exception of;): barring, except for, save for; see also Thesaurus:except

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse fyrirbjóða.

Verb

forby (imperative forby, present tense forbyr, passive forbys, simple past forbød or forbøy or forbydde, past participle forbudt or forbydd)

1. to ban
2. to forbid
3. to prohibit

Related terms

• forbud

References

• “forby” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• forbyde, forbyda (long forms)

Etymology

From Old Norse fyrirbjóða.

Verb

forby (present tense forbyr, past tense forbaud or forbydde, past participle forbode or forbydd or forbydt, passive infinitive forbyast, present participle forbyande, imperative forby)

1. to ban, forbid, prohibit

Related terms

• forbod
• forboden

References

• “forby” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.