bye
bye Lexical Profile
bye Game Scores & Validity
• interjection
An informal exclamation used to express farewell when parting or ending a conversation.
"She waved from the doorway and called out, "Bye, see you tomorrow!""
• noun
An informal act of saying farewell or taking one's leave.
"After a quick bye to our hosts, we hurried out to catch the last train home."
In sports and tournaments, the preferential status of a player or team automatically advancing to the next round of competition without playing an opponent.
"Because they finished at the top of their division, the team earned a first-round bye in the playoffs."
In cricket, an extra run scored by the batting side when the ball passes the wicket without touching the bat or any part of the batter's body.
"The wicketkeeper failed to stop the wide delivery, allowing the batters to sneak through for two byes."
Word Nuance & Usage
Frequently confused with its homophones 'by' (a preposition indicating proximity or agency) and 'buy' (a verb meaning to purchase).
• Rhymes for bye
Word Origin & Etymology
As an exclamation of farewell, it is an early 18th-century shortened form of 'goodbye' (originally a contraction of 'God be with ye'). The sporting and noun senses represent a variant spelling of the preposition and adverb 'by', indicating something secondary or to the side.