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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stand-by

Stand-by \Stand"-by`\ (st[a^]nd"b[imac]`), n. One who, or that which, stands by one in need; something upon which one relies for constant use or in an emergency.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
stand-by

also standby, 1796, "that which stands by one," originally nautical, of a vessel kept nearby for emergencies, from verbal phrase stand by "await, support, remain beside" (mid-13c.); see stand (v.) + by. Meaning "state of being ready for duty" is from 1946. In civil aviation, as an adjective meaning "without a booked ticket," from 1961. As an order to hold one's self in readiness, it is recorded from 1660s.

Usage examples of "stand-by".

Shar had resorted to that Princessly stand-by, dropping the fluttering hankerchief.

We keep the chiropractors on stand-by duty when we go riding with Plemp.

Specialist technical and hardline teams being readied, transport priorities re-allocated, police and security personnel preparing to perform joint civilian control duties, keeping tourists and residents out of the way in case of an escalation, emergency services being brought to full stand-by status.

He moved to the segment of the console marked Degaussing, and pressed the stand-by button.

Because the Talents were more on a stand-by basis now that the Refugee's interior had been diagrammed, the rest of the watch seemed to drag almost interminably.

He pulled one of the printed circuit elements from a stand-by console and used it to form a bridge between the power lead connectors and the antenna circuit.

There's a lot of that old stand-by, chloral hydrate, in it, but it's been refined, (he smell removed, also the after-effects are negative.

In any case, they burn well, and if a fire gets started in the grass below, the main job of the stand-by fire crews is to keep it from reaching the oaks which squat there in the dry wind like an army of nervous virgins, a firestorm waiting for a spark.

My master, who always looked out for a rainy day, had collected these rings as a sort of stand-by, to 'raise the wind' when required.

No updated SitRep or other message to explain the delay has been receipted during my time at Stand-By, and I allocate another 4.

The first housed a power plant, with a small rotary converter humming silently beside a bank of transformers, and a stand-by unit waiting.

Fair chance of returning at nightfall but Bloody riveter began banging away and I called a 20-20 into the mike for stand-by and cut it dead to save the batteries and started to sweat it out again, watching the iron ladders and trying to think what I could do if Ferris asked me to keep station while he got into signals with London.

He purchased a stand-by ticket on a flight he expected to be underbooked, saving himself another few hundred dollars.