to go by
117
3.0
- phrasal verb
- /ɡoʊ baɪ/
:
llamarse
- So my name is Alejandro Perez, but I go by no mercy.
- goes by the name
OK, next we've got one from someone that goes by LA Simpson.
- OK, next we've got one from someone that goes by LA Simpson.
- I said, well, I think he used to go by hooch.
- And the most obvious one that you'll see goes by a couple different names.
- Matthew, do you go by Matt or Matthew?
- So you grew up going by Paola?
- Household pest also goes by the Latin name Mus musculus.
- Little Sass is the guy's name, and he goes by the King of New York.
- She said, she said he goes by Jack Thriller.
- The man who broke this online goes by the Twitter handle Black Insurrectionist.
- By the way, a Tick Tock legend goes by the name Kyle the Dragon.
- Opposite me today, we've got a burn survivor, goes by the name Sophie Lee.
- The people who feel that they've been taken against their will often go by the term abductee.
Examples
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Little Sass is the guy's name, and he goes by the King of New York.
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And we drew Sam, who goes by Look mom, no computer.
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Well, Doctor Johnson, do you go by Doctor Johnson?
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- Actually, I go by Bruce now.
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Matthew, do you go by Matt or Matthew?
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Today we've got a great guest on who goes by the name Daniel.
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Technically, the name is Alexandra, but I go by Alex.
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The man's name is Wilson, or at least that's what he goes by part of the time.
Fiction book (1992) -
A half-French, half-Indian woman who went by the name Mrs. Warrior answered.
Fiction book (1998) -
People often wonder why she goes by the name of Lily instead of her full name, Lillian.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To give a name to someone or something and sometimes to say they are a certain kind
100
3.7
To describe yourself using a certain name or title
78
4.8
To give an unofficial name to a person or thing
49
2.0
To give an informal name to a person, place, or thing that shows something about it
16
5.9
To call a person or thing by a particular name
8
1.5
To give another name for a person or thing
8
6.5
Be known by another name
To give a command or file a different name to make it easier to use
Surface Forms
Morphology
go + by
The meaning 'to pass or elapse' is directly derivable from combining 'go' (to move/advance) with 'by' (indicating movement past something): time is conceptualized as moving past, so the composite meaning is a straightforward motion metaphor. This mapping is cross-linguistically common and follows normal English particle/preposition patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would very likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Go by for a name may come from the simple image of someone wearing a name tag that says 'Beth', so others use that name. The parts go and by make the picture of using that name as you move through life, so it means 'to be called' by a particular name.