Talk:stand by

stand by
As in "stand by your man". Not a phrasal verb in this sense, exemplify at stand. DAVilla 06:09, 12 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I would disagree. She "stood by" him through his long illness and recovery does not mean literally standing anywhere. It is therefore idiomatic. To place this at "stand" would involve saying that it only has this meaning with "by", that is to say, it is a phrasal verb. Most other dictionaries agree with this view as far as I can see, some even separating "stand by" a decision, and "stand by" a person. -- A LGRIF  talk 21:51, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Retracted, not sure what I was thinking. DAVilla 22:37, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Translations to be checked

 * "German: stehen Sie bereit, bereitstehen (de)"

Both are fine for "To wait in expectation of some event", but not for the other two meanings. "stehen Sie bereit" means "stand by", when one person speaks to another person (singular) or other persons (plural), i.e. a imperative form. "to stand by" is "bereitstehen", i.e. the infinitive form. 93.196.246.93 14:14, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

RFD discussion: February 2021–January 2022
Rfd-redundant redundant to 84.228.239.108 21:10, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
 * (intransitive) to be ready to provide assistance if required
 * (idiomatic, intransitive) To wait in expectation of some event; to make ready.


 * Keep, I think. As I read them, they are distinctly different. The usex "The tug stood by in case it was needed." is a good one. DonnanZ (talk) 22:26, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
 * In fact it was me who added this sense. diff DonnanZ (talk) 22:45, 24 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Keep &mdash; Dentonius 18:42, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Comment. "to make ready" is not intransitive in normal English, and presumably it should say "to be ready"? Anyway, I changed it, but please delete it or do something else with it if you prefer. Mihia (talk) 20:29, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I see you altered sense 1, but you don't say whether sense 1 or sense 5 should deleted. If, say, a riot squad stands by in expectation of a riot, they wouldn't be providing assistance if one occurred, it would be more like a battle. If a fire brigade stood by, it could be because a fire may flare up again. An airport fire tender can stand by to assist in any potential accident at a moment's notice. DonnanZ (talk) 21:49, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry, my comment may have been unclear. By "delete it or do something else with it" I was referring only to the part sense "to make/be ready", not to either sense in full. I feel unsure at the moment about the distinctness of the two senses overall. Mihia (talk) 22:14, 27 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Delete "To be ready to provide assistance if required" is an overspecialization of "To wait in expectation of some event". Make/get/be ready is a sometime accompaniment, not a part of the general definition "To wait in expectation of an event". DCDuring (talk) 00:35, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete. Imetsia (talk) 23:51, 7 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Combine the two into one line: * (idiomatic, intransitive) To wait in expectation of some event; to make ready to provide assistance if required. bd2412 T 03:20, 8 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Delete as overspecified, unless you can find a dictionary that makes this a subdefinition, where we would then need the others. DAVilla 09:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

RFD-deleted. &mdash; Fytcha〈 T | L | C 〉 03:24, 11 January 2022 (UTC)