to stop by
- phrasal verb
- /stɑp baɪ/
- Informal
- Santa and I will be stopping by your house on Christmas Eve.
- stop by the office
- stop by to say
- stop by to talk
So we just stopped by this Gelato place.
- So we just stopped by this Gelato place.
- OK, so we might stop by there for a cheeky little cup.
- But so I, I stopped by jack-in-the-box before here, OK.
- Oh, hey Maya, thanks for stopping by, have a seat please.
- When you're in Iowa, you got to stop by Crocs.
- So please tell your friends or stop by next year, which will which will be next fall.
- On this episode, the incredible Timothy Ferris stops by.
Examples
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Actually, my family stopped by for dinner.
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We just stopped by to tell you some interesting news about our neighbor Ruby.
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I will totally stop by because your cases are amazing.
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I gotta stop by there and look at some stuff.
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Sarah just stopped by with good news.
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I gotta stop by my office.
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You know, we were wondering when you were gonna stop by and pay us a visit.
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Make sure you stop by and check out the sponsors below.
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I promised her I'd stop by.
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I will stop by the café later to grab a coffee.
Synonyms
To pause a journey to stay at a place
Visit someone at home without calling first
To visit someone or a place for a short time without planning
Visit someone without arranging it first
Visit a place for a short time while on the way somewhere
To go to someone's home or another place for a short time
To make a short informal visit to a place
To stay somewhere for a short time, often overnight, before continuing a trip
Stop at a place for a short time while going somewhere else
To visit someone informally to have coffee and chat
Antonyms
How Long
- Informal
- Informal
- Informal
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make a short visit' is directly derivable from combining 'stop' (to pause or interrupt movement) with 'by' (at or near a place): the sense of pausing at a location briefly is predictable from the parts. This verb+preposition pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would normally infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrasal verb stop by comes from the simple image of you stop briefly by someone's door or a shop as you pass. That's why it means 'to make a short visit'.