give the go-by

present singular third person gives the go-by · participle present giving the go-by · past gave the go-by · participle past given the go-by

1. archaictransitiveTo leave behind, outdistance.First known use 17th c.

   Sliding Cube was taken on in front at Randwick and a couple of runners gave her the ‘go by’ when the field straightened.

   2007 August 5, Sunday Mail

2. transitiveTo avoid dealing with; to disregard, ignore.First known use 17th c.

   To those other, those so august, accomplishments she no more pretended. She gave them the go-by.

   1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson

   1 more example

   [T]hey express sweetly enough some natural sentiments,—and what more would you have in a song? You have had far more in some songs to which we have given the go-by[…]

   1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns

3. transitiveTo snub (someone); to end a relationship.First known use 19th c.

   "If you mean to give him the go-by, you ought to do it cleanly […] and not string the fellow along."

   2012, Christina Brooke, Mad About the Earl

   1 more example

   "You're givin' me the go-by. Please, Jack, don't give me the go-by.[…] Did you see him gi'me me the go-by? He's through. That's all—through."

   1924 July 28 [1923 August 28], Samuel Badisch Ornitz, “Sixth Period”, in Haunch Paunch and Jowl, eighth printing, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, section I, page 265