standby

or stand-by

[ stand-bahy ]

noun

, plural stand·bys.

1. a staunch supporter or adherent; one who can be relied upon.
2. something upon which one can rely and therefore choose or use regularly.
3. something or someone held ready to serve as a substitute, especially a radio or television program used as a filler in case of cancellation of a regularly scheduled program.
4. a traveler who is waiting for last-minute accommodations to become available on a plane, train, or other transport as a result of a cancellation.

adjective

1. kept readily available for use in an emergency, shortage, or the like:

   a standby player.

2. of or relating to last-minute accommodations, the transport that offers them, or a traveler who is waiting for them:

   a standby flight.

3. of or relating to a waiting period.

Word History and Origins

Origin of standby¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; noun, adj. use of verb phrase stand by

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on standby, in a state of readiness to act, respond, or be used immediately when needed.

Example Sentences

To make sure it has them, Ravenswood and other New York stations collect “capacity payments” just for keeping their turbines on standby, as a kind of insurance policy for the days of highest demand.

From Popular-Science

Glover sent in two civil-disturbance units and kept a third on standby.

From Washington Post

Look through the huge data bases of breached personal information and you’ll find the most popular options are simple phrases like “12345” and even the old standby, “password.”

From Popular-Science

A key part of the safety protocol is the commands team members issue, such as “standby,” when co-workers need to move away from equipment preparing to move, and “clear,” when they need to stand still, facing the moving equipment.

From ProPublica

Even new ways of doing testing are going to start to show up, but mostly that’ll be valuable for the next pandemic, where we will make the investments and have people on standby to do far, far better than we did this time.

From Ozy

That's why medical teams, replete with Life Flight helicopters, are always on standby at tour events.

From The Daily Beast

Daniel Schachner, the actor playing the referee for Puppy Bowl X, waits on standby to help out on the field.

From The Daily Beast

Ballard had Lottie Jackson and the ambulance crew “on standby,” in case the jury wanted them.

From The Daily Beast

So while the Republican race is in full throttle, the Democrats are left in standby mode.

From The Daily Beast

They would rather you not think of devices in standby mode and would rather make that extension cord as invisible as possible.

From The Daily Beast

When he had been with Ament little more than a year Sam had become office favorite and chief standby.

From Project Gutenberg

The wreck of the Clyde was once more our standby, providing a suitable length of chain and four shackles.

From Project Gutenberg

So Joes dismay at the thought of Jim, his main standby, letting down in his efficiency was amply justified.

From Project Gutenberg

I dilute with a few drops of water a little Liebig's extract, that precious standby of the kitchen.

From Project Gutenberg

They prove unmistakably that his standby was the grain crops grown on the open fields.

From Project Gutenberg