Meanings
forby1
comparative more forby · superlative most forby · alternative foreby · alternative forbye
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKarchaicdialectalUncommon; out of the ordinary; extraordinary; superior.
He's a forbye man.
comparative more forby · superlative most forby · alternative foreby · alternative forbye
alternative foreby · alternative forbye
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKarchaicdialectalBeyond; past; more than; greater than; over and above; moreover.
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKarchaicdialectalNear; beside; by, close to.
Those were the two sonnes of Acrates old / Who meeting earst with Archimago slie, / Foreby that idle strond, of him were told, / That he, wich earst them combatted, was Guyon bold.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLCSynonyms: next to
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKarchaicdialectalOn one side; out of the way.
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKarchaicdialectalBesides; in addition to; as well as; not to mention.
There was other six forby me.
2 more examples
[T]hey ca' it fasting when they hae the best o' fish frae Hartlepool and Sunderland by land carriage, forbye trouts, gilses, salmon, and a' the lave o't, and so they make their very fasting a kind of luxury and abomination; […]
They call it fasting when they have the best of fish from Hartlepool and Sunderland by land carriage, forby [i.e., besides] trouts, grilses, salmon, and all the rest of it, and so they make their fasting a kind of luxury and abomination; […]
1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter [VI], in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 133"Put on your dress, ye shameless witch, standin' there in your pelt I'll take a strap to, for havin' the conceit out of you, forby your idling had lost me the sup of gin to keep the breath of life in me."
1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 173Synonyms: beyond
- Northern EnglandScotlandUKarchaicdialectalWith the exception of; not taking into account.
Synonyms: barring
Forby2
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositionNear; beside; by, close to.
prepositionBesides; in addition to; as well as; not to mention.
prepositionWith the exception of; not taking into account.
Origin
- Middle Englishforby
- Englishforby
From Middle English forby, forbi, of Middle Low German or North Germanic origin, equivalent to fore- + by. Compare Saterland Frisian foarbie (“beyond, past”), West Frisian foarby (“over, beyond, past”), Dutch voorbij (“beyond, past”), Low German vörbi, vörbie (“over, up, gone, finished, past”), German vorbei (“over, gone, past”), Danish forbi, Swedish förbi. More at fore, by.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
forby. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forby
“forby.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forby. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forby,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forby.
Source: forby on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.