bye

¹

[bahy]

noun

1. Sports.,  in a tournament, the preferential status of a player or team not paired with a competitor in an early round and thus automatically advanced to play in the next round.

   The top three seeded players received byes in the first round.

2. Golf.,  the holes of a stipulated course still unplayed after the match is finished.

3. Cricket.,  a run made on a ball not struck by the batsman.

4. something subsidiary, secondary, or out of the way.

adjective

1. by.

bye

²

[bahy]

interjection

1. goodbye.

bye-

³

1. variant of by-.

   bye-election.

bye

¹

/ baɪ /

noun

1. sport the situation in which a player or team in an eliminatory contest wins a preliminary round by virtue of having no opponent

2. golf one or more holes of a stipulated course that are left unplayed after the match has been decided

3. cricket a run scored off a ball not struck by the batsman: allotted to the team as an extra and not to the individual batsman See also leg bye

4. something incidental or secondary

5. incidentally; by the way: used as a sentence connector

bye

²

1. informal,  goodbye

Word History and Origins

Origin of bye¹

1710–20; variant spelling of by in its noun sense “side way”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bye¹

C16: a variant of _by

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. by the bye, by the way; incidentally: Also by the by

   By the bye, how do you spell your name?

Example Sentences

This is baseball’s best rivalry, with a division title and potential first-round playoff bye on the line.

From Los Angeles Times

A division title is at stake, and with it the possibility of a first-round playoff bye.

From Los Angeles Times

The teams with the top two records in each league earn a bye in the first round and advance directly to the division series.

From Los Angeles Times

She receives a bye to the World Championships in September in the 100m as defending champion but her hopes of competing in the 200m are over.

From BBC

The seventh-wicket pair were together for 20 balls and added two runs, one of which was a leg bye.

From BBC