Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Way \Way\, n. [OE. wey, way, AS. weg; akin to OS., D., OHG., &
   G. weg, Icel. vegr, Sw. v["a]g, Dan. vei, Goth. wigs, L. via,
   and AS. wegan to move, L. vehere to carry, Skr. vah.
   [root]136. Cf. {Convex}, {Inveigh}, {Vehicle}, {Vex}, {Via},
   {Voyage}, {Wag}, {Wagon}, {Wee}, {Weigh}.]
   1. That by, upon, or along, which one passes or processes;
      opportunity or room to pass; place of passing; passage;
      road, street, track, or path of any kind; as, they built a
      way to the mine. ``To find the way to heaven.'' --Shak.

            I shall him seek by way and eke by street.
                                                  --Chaucer.

            The way seems difficult, and steep to scale.
                                                  --Milton.

            The season and ways were very improper for his
            majesty's forces to march so great a distance.
                                                  --Evelyn.

   2. Length of space; distance; interval; as, a great way; a
      long way.

            And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began
            to fail.                              --Longfellow.

   3. A moving; passage; procession; journey.

            I prythee, now, lead the way.         --Shak.

   4. Course or direction of motion or process; tendency of
      action; advance.

            If that way be your walk, you have not far.
                                                  --Milton.

            And let eternal justice take the way. --Dryden.

   5. The means by which anything is reached, or anything is
      accomplished; scheme; device; plan.

            My best way is to creep under his gaberdine. --Shak.

            By noble ways we conquest will prepare. --Dryden.

            What impious ways my wishes took!     --Prior.

   6. Manner; method; mode; fashion; style; as, the way of
      expressing one's ideas.

   7. Regular course; habitual method of life or action; plan of
      conduct; mode of dealing. ``Having lost the way of
      nobleness.'' --Sir. P. Sidney.

            Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
            are peace.                            --Prov. iii.
                                                  17.

            When men lived in a grander way.      --Longfellow.

   8. Sphere or scope of observation. --Jer. Taylor.

            The public ministers that fell in my way. --Sir W.
                                                  Temple.

   9. Determined course; resolved mode of action or conduct; as,
      to have one's way.

   10. (Naut.)
       (a) Progress; as, a ship has way.
       (b) pl. The timbers on which a ship is launched.

   11. pl. (Mach.) The longitudinal guides, or guiding surfaces,
       on the bed of a planer, lathe, or the like, along which a
       table or carriage moves.

   12. (Law) Right of way. See below.

   {By the way}, in passing; apropos; aside; apart from, though
      connected with, the main object or subject of discourse.
      

   {By way of}, for the purpose of; as being; in character of.
      

   {Covert way}. (Fort.) See {Covered way}, under {Covered}.

   {In the family way}. See under {Family}.

   {In the way}, so as to meet, fall in with, obstruct, hinder,
      etc.

   {In the way with}, traveling or going with; meeting or being
      with; in the presence of.

   {Milky way}. (Astron.) See {Galaxy}, 1.

   {No way}, {No ways}. See {Noway}, {Noways}, in the
      Vocabulary.

   {On the way}, traveling or going; hence, in process;
      advancing toward completion; as, on the way to this
      country; on the way to success.

   {Out of the way}. See under {Out}.

   {Right of way} (Law), a right of private passage over
      another's ground. It may arise either by grant or
      prescription. It may be attached to a house, entry, gate,
      well, or city lot, as well as to a country farm. --Kent.
      

   {To be under way}, or {To have way} (Naut.), to be in motion,
      as when a ship begins to move.

   {To give way}. See under {Give}.

   {To go one's way}, or {To come one's way}, to go or come; to
      depart or come along. --Shak.

   {To go the way of all the earth}, to die.

By \By\ (b[imac]), prep. [OE. bi, AS. b[=i], big, near to, by,
   of, from, after, according to; akin to OS. & OFries. bi, be,
   D. bij, OHG. b[=i], G. bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi`.
   E. prefix be- is orig. the same word. [root]203. See pref.
   {Be-}.]
   1. In the neighborhood of; near or next to; not far from;
      close to; along with; as, come and sit by me. [1913
      Webster]

            By foundation or by shady rivulet He sought them
            both.                                 --Milton.

   2. On; along; in traversing. Compare 5.

            Long labors both by sea and land he bore. --Dryden.

            By land, by water, they renew the charge. --Pope.

   3. Near to, while passing; hence, from one to the other side
      of; past; as, to go by a church.

   4. Used in specifying adjacent dimensions; as, a cabin twenty
      feet by forty.

   5. Against. [Obs.] --Tyndale [1. Cor. iv. 4].

   6. With, as means, way, process, etc.; through means of; with
      aid of; through; through the act or agency of; as, a city
      is destroyed by fire; profit is made by commerce; to take
      by force.

   Note: To the meaning of by, as denoting means or agency,
         belong, more or less closely, most of the following
         uses of the word:
      (a) It points out the author and producer; as,
          ``Waverley'', a novel by Sir W.Scott; a statue by
          Canova; a sonata by Beethoven.
      (b) In an oath or adjuration, it indicates the being or
          thing appealed to as sanction; as, I affirm to you by
          all that is sacred; he swears by his faith as a
          Christian; no, by Heaven.
      (c) According to; by direction, authority, or example of;
          after; -- in such phrases as, it appears by his
          account; ten o'clock by my watch; to live by rule; a
          model to build by.
      (d) At the rate of; according to the ratio or proportion
          of; in the measure or quantity of; as, to sell cloth
          by the yard, milk by the quart, eggs by the dozen,
          meat by the pound; to board by the year.
      (e) In comparison, it denotes the measure of excess or
          deficiency; when anything is increased or diminished,
          it indicates the measure of increase or diminution;
          as, larger by a half; older by five years; to lessen
          by a third.
      (f) It expresses continuance or duration; during the
          course of; within the period of; as, by day, by night.
      (g) As soon as; not later than; near or at; -- used in
          expressions of time; as, by this time the sun had
          risen; he will be here by two o'clock.

   Note: In boxing the compass, by indicates a pint nearer to,
         or towards, the next cardinal point; as, north by east,
         i.e., a point towards the east from the north;
         northeast by east, i.e., on point nearer the east than
         northeast is.

   Note: With is used instead of by before the instrument with
         which anything is done; as, to beat one with a stick;
         the board was fastened by the carpenter with nails. But
         there are many words which may be regarded as means or
         processes, or, figuratively, as instruments; and
         whether with or by shall be used with them is a matter
         of arbitrary, and often, of unsettled usage; as, to a
         reduce a town by famine; to consume stubble with fire;
         he gained his purpose by flattery; he entertained them
         with a story; he distressed us with or by a recital of
         his sufferings. see {With}.

   {By all means}, most assuredly; without fail; certainly.

   {By and by}.
      (a) Close together (of place). [Obs.] ``Two yonge knightes
          liggyng [lying] by and by.'' --Chaucer.
      (b) Immediately; at once. [Obs.] ``When . . . persecution
          ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
          offended.'' --Matt. xiii. 21.
      (c) Presently; pretty soon; before long.

   Note: In this phrase, by seems to be used in the sense of
         nearness in time, and to be repeated for the sake of
         emphasis, and thus to be equivalent to ``soon, and
         soon,'' that is instantly; hence, -- less emphatically,
         -- pretty soon, presently.

   {By one's self}, with only one's self near; alone; solitary.

   {By the bye}. See under {Bye}.

   {By the head} (Naut.), having the bows lower than the stern;
      -- said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water
      than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is by the
      stern.

   {By the lee}, the situation of a vessel, going free, when she
      has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her
      stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.

   {By the run}, to let go by the run, to let go altogether,
      instead of slacking off.

   {By the way}, by the bye; -- used to introduce an incidental
      or secondary remark or subject. 

   {Day by day}, {One by one}, {Piece by piece}, etc., each day,
      each one, each piece, etc., by itself singly or
      separately; each severally.

   {To come by}, to get possession of; to obtain.

   {To do by}, to treat, to behave toward.

   {To set by}, to value, to esteem.

   {To stand by}, to aid, to support.

   Note: The common phrase good-by is equivalent to farewell,
         and would be better written good-bye, as it is a
         corruption of God be with you (b'w'ye).

Source : WordNet®

by the way
     adv : introducing a different topic; "by the way, I won't go to
           the party" [syn: {by the bye}, {incidentally}]