Aby
noun/ˈeɪbiː/
Etymology A clipping of the word.
1
The Abyssinian cat.
aby
verbalso spelled AbyUS, UK /əˈbaɪ/
Etymology From Middle English abyen, abien, abiggen, from Old English ābyċġan (“to buy; pay for; buy off; requite; recompense; redeem; perform; execute”), from Proto-Germanic *uzbugjaną, equivalent to a- + buy. Cognate with Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌱𐌿𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usbugjan). Not related to abide.
1
Archaic To pay the penalty for (something); to atone for, to make amends.
- Foole-hardy Knight, full soone thou shalt aby / This fond reproach, thy body will I hang, [Hee takes down / his pole.] / And loe vpon that string thy teeth shall hang: Prepare thy selfe, for dead soone shalt thou bee1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, […], published 1613, →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:
2
Archaic, Figuratively To pay (something) as a penalty, to atone for; to suffer (something).
- Who dyes the vtmoſt dolor doth abye, / But who that liues, is lefte to waile his loſſe: / So life is loſſe, and death felicity.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 38, page 455:
- We doubt thee not; / Thy tale seems true, nor dost thou glorify / Thyself herein—certes thou wouldst abye / A heavy fate if thou shouldst lie herein— […]1870, William Morris, “February: Bellerophon in Lycia”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 339:
3
To endure or tolerate (something); to experience.
Obsolete except Scotland
- The muckle black deil was father to the Frasers, a'body kens that; and as for the Gregara, I never could abye the reek of them since I could stotter on two feet.1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Wood by Silvermills”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 131:
4
Obsolete To pay for (something); to buy.
5
Obsolete To pay the penalty; to atone.
6
Obsolete To endure; to remain.
- So long as breath, and hable puiſſaunce / Did natiue corage vnto him ſupply, / His pace he freſhly forward did aduaunce, / And carried her beyond all ieopardy, / But nought that wanteth reſt, can long aby.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 3, pages 494–495: