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The Collaborative International Dictionary
By then

Then \Then\ ([th][e^]n), adv. [Originally the same word as than. See Than.]

  1. At that time (referring to a time specified, either past or future).

    And the Canaanite was then in the land.
    --Gen. xii. 6.

    Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
    --1 Cor. xiii. 1

  2. 2. Soon afterward, or immediately; next; afterward.

    First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
    --Matt. v. 24.

  3. At another time; later; again. One while the master is not aware of what is done, and then in other cases it may fall out to be own act. --L'Estrange. By then.

    1. By that time.

    2. By the time that. [Obs.]

      But that opinion, I trust, by then this following argument hath been well read, will be left for one of the mysteries of an indulgent Antichrist.
      --Milton.

      Now and then. See under Now, adv.

      Till then, until that time; until the time mentioned.
      --Milton.

      Note: Then is often used elliptically, like an adjective, for then existing; as, the then administration.

Usage examples of "by then".

He had really been babying the truck by then, steam coming out through the grille, oil-pressure dropping, temperature rising, an unpleasant fried smell coming in through the air vents .

I don't know if it is or not, but by then I only wanted to get rid of him.

Me too, because by then I was as swept up in the excitement of it as the rest of them.

Then I saw his eyes were too dark, not Seth's eyes at all, but by then it was too late.

And by then, the truth of it was so obvious to all who had traveled through inter-stellar space that the statement was a clichexcept at moments like now, of course.

But by then, if her assumptions were correct, it should be out of his hands.

Your body will be found, but by then your mind will have been copied and stored.

And it only amplified with dates and places the kind of picture which he had sketched by then for himself.

And the Saint had practically discounted Morgen altogether by then, except as an accessory: the man's Nazi affiliations might be another story, but they were not this one.