forby

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

   He was forby kind.

Preposition

forby

1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Beyond; past; more than; greater than; over and above; moreover.
2. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic, of time) Past; gone by; over.
3. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland, archaic) Near; beside; by, close to.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.viii:

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

   There was other six forby me.

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

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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.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• forbyde, forbyda

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.