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Aby

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aby¹

  • /əˈbaɪ/ US, UK

Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

From Middle English abyen, abien, abiggen, from Old English ābyċġan (“to buy; pay for; buy off; requite; recompense; redeem; perform; execute”), from Proto-Germanic *uzbugjaną, equivalent to a- + buy. Cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usbugjan). Not related to abide.

verb abought · abye · abuy · abie

  1. archaic, transitive To pay the penalty for (something); to atone for, to make amends. Foole-hardy Knight, full soone thou shalt aby / This fond reproach, thy body will I hang, [Hee takes down / his pole.] / And loe vpon that string thy teeth shall hang: Prepare thy selfe, for dead soone shalt thou bee
  2. archaic, figuratively, transitive To pay (something) as a penalty, to atone for; to suffer (something). Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity.
  3. transitive To endure or tolerate (something); to experience. The muckle black deil was father to the Frasers, a'body kens that; and as for the Gregara, I never could abye the reek of them since I could stotter on two feet.
  4. obsolete, transitive To pay for (something); to buy.
  5. intransitive, obsolete To pay the penalty; to atone.
  6. intransitive, obsolete To endure; to remain. So long as breath, and hable puiſſaunce / Did natiue corage vnto him ſupply, / His pace he freſhly forward did aduaunce, / And carried her beyond all ieopardy, / But nought that wanteth reſt, can long aby.

Aby²

  • /ˈeɪbiː/

Rhymes with -eɪbi

Where it comes from

From Old Norse á (“river”) + býr (“town”). Literally "Town on a River" or "River Town". Cognate with Swedish Åby and Danish Aaby, both other towns.

proper noun

  1. A village in Aby with Greenfield parish, East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England (OS grid ref TL4178).

Aby³

  • /ˈeɪbiː/

Rhymes with -eɪbi

proper noun

  1. A village in south-eastern Ivory Coast.

Aby⁴

  • /ˈeɪbiː/

Rhymes with -eɪbi

Where it comes from

A clipping of the word.

noun Abys

  1. The Abyssinian cat.

ABY⁵

noun

  1. abbreviation, informal, initialism Initialism of Archbishop of York.Archbishop of York

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