stand by

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stand by (third-person singular simple present stands by, present participle standing by, simple past and past participle stood by)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To wait in expectation of some event; to be ready.

   Synonyms: hang on, stay; see also Thesaurus:wait

   Please stand by for more instructions.

   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 3, in Death on the Centre Court:

     It had been his intention to go to Wimbledon, but as he himself said: “Why be blooming well frizzled when you can hear all the results over the wireless. […] You stand by, Janet, and wake me up if they do any of that running commentary stuff.”

2. (idiomatic, transitive) To remain loyal or faithful to.

   Synonyms: (UK, idiomatic) go to the wall for someone; keep faith

   Even though money is scarce sometimes, Ann stands by her decision to be a full-time mother.

   • 2014 August 20, “Why Jews are worried [print version: International New York Times, 22 August 2014, p. 8]”, in The New York Times‎:

     [W]hen a Hamas spokesman recently stood by his statement that Jews used the blood of non-Jewish children for their matzos – one of the oldest anti-Semitic canards around – European elites were largely silent.

3. (idiomatic, transitive) To support; to continue to support despite things being bad.

   Synonym: uphold

   They stood by us all along and it's awesome to see them out here to support us today.

4. (intransitive) To do nothing. To be inactive in a situation.

   Synonyms: lallygag, waste time; see also Thesaurus:loiter

   I can't simply stand by and watch you ruin your life.

• → Cebuano: estambay, tambay
• → Tagalog: istambay, tambay
  • → English: tambay

• bestand

• “stand by”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.