Etymology
Origin of byname
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; by- ( def. ) + name ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That byname, by the nature of DuVernay’s project, almost immediately comes to seem not merely inadequate but unjust.
From The New Yorker • May 30, 2019
Rant′er, a noisy talker: a jovial fellow: a boisterous preacher: a byname for the Primitive Methodists: a nickname applied to the members of a sect of the Commonwealth time; Rant′erism.—adv.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
No; he had never heard of one called Randall, neither in hat nor cowl, but he knew more of them by face than by name, and more by byname than surname or christened name.
From The Armourer's Prentices by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
This in allusion to the byname of "the vetoing Mayor of Buffalo" the people had given him on account of his systematic opposition to all extravagant expenditure when Governor of the State.
From Fragments of an Autobiography by Moscheles, Felix
It was not so; and the byname by which I went behind my back confirmed it.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
