by-pass

A form of bypass — A road that passes around something, such as a residential area or business district.

Meanings

nounby-pass (plural by-passes)

plural by-passes

  1. alternativeAlternative form of bypass.

    the Colnbrook By-Pass on the A4

    2 more examples

    The railway was in fact shifted in 1937 a little to the west, over a distance of a quarter-mile, to make room for the by-pass at this point, but complete abandonment was firmly vetoed because of the proved strategic value of the line.

    1955 March, T. B. Sands, “The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 191

    In The Bus We Loved (2005) Travis Elborough describes the New Road [now named Euston Road and Marylebone Road] as 'London's first by-pass ... a kind of perimeter fence, a here be yokels boundary line between the burgeoning town and the country'.

    2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 17–18

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

by-pass. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by-pass

MLA

“by-pass.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by-pass. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by-pass,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by-pass.

Source: by-pass on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.