Also 6 bie-, 9 bye-lane. [f. BY- 3 b + LANE.] A lane lying off from the main street or road; also, a side passage in a mine.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1350/1. The citizens … set vpon them … by the bylanes.
1666. Evelyn, Diary, 7 Sept. The bie lanes … were … fill’d up with rubbish.
1697. E. Lhwyd, in Phil. Trans., XXVII. 467. They make their By-lanes (as in other Pits) as the Vein requires.
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), V. lxix. 189. Through by-lanes and cross the fields, to make their escape.
1858. Bright, For. Policy, Sp. (1876), 468. Turning fertilizing rivulets into every bye-lane and alley.
