Stand-by

[f. vbl. phr. stand by: see STAND v. 70, 91.]

  1.  Naut. a. A vessel kept in attendance for emergencies.

1796.  in Nicolas, Disp. Nelson (1846), VII. p. xci. Meleager [a ship] is my only stand-by and every week I’must send something to Genoa for news.

  attrib.  1882.  Pall Mall Gaz., 21 June, 5/1. To the 150 passengers was given the smaller ‘stand-by’ steamer.

  b.  An order or signal for a boat to stand by (see STAND v. 91 e); attrib. in stand-by bell, the ringing of a bell in the engine-room of a vessel as a signal to stop the engines.

1896.  Kipling, Seven Seas, 46. (M‘Andrew’s Hymn) Losh! Yon’s the ‘Stand-by’ bell. Pilot so soon?

  2.  One who stands by another to render assistance; esp. fig. one who upholds or seconds another; a staunch adherent or partisan.

1801.  C. Gadsden, in J. Adams’ Wks. (1854), IX. 578. But my duty to my country and to our old standbys … compelled me in our late election to take up my feeble pen again.

1857.  Lady Canning, in Hare, Two Noble Lives (1893), II. 238. Neill is made a General, and joins General Havelock, and a capital stand-by he is.

1887.  Baring-Gould, Golden Feather, viii. His mother had always been his stand-by against the severity of his father.

1883.  Mrs. Oliphant, Sheridan, i. 34. The respectable brandy-merchant had been the family stand-by.

  attrib.  1891.  Constance MacEwen, Three Women in Boat, ix. She is a capital stand-by woman, holding her nerves as some people hold money—wisely and well.

1897.  Westm. Gaz., 18 Dec., 5/3. Eight ordinary winches, each manœuvred by four men with ‘stand by’ labour at their elbow.

  3.  Something upon which one can rely; a main support; a chief resource.

1861.C. P. Hodgson, Resid. at Nagasaki, iii. 70. We had that famous stand-bye [sic], a good ham, three fowls, sardines, bread and tea.

1882.  Stevenson, Lett., 22 Feb. Art and marriage are two very good stand-by’s.

1891.  E. Kinglake, Australian at H., 47. Old ladies are the great stand-by of the long established medicoes.

  attrib.  1902.  Daily Chron., 24 May, 8/3. In Paris every summer foulard frocks re-appear with perennial freshness, and are made the stand-by gown of the woman of wisdom.