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 By Cracky! intj.—A meaningless ejaculation conveying no idea beyond that of general surprise.—See Oaths.

1888. Superior Inter-Ocean. Say, haint Tubbs a Methodist? By cracky! here's where it is, and in we walked.

Bye-Drink, subs. (common).—Liquid refreshment taken at other than meal-times. [From bye = not in regular course + drink.]

1766. Kenrick, Falstaff's Wedding, i., 1. I could wish, nevertheless, old white wine stood higher in his lordship's favour; that I may not be stinted at table, or in my by-drinkings.

1883. Daily Telegraph, Jan. 10, p. 5, col. 3. Our business men—and many others who are not men of business—take, as it is, a great many more 'bye-drinks' in the way of 'sherry' and 'whiskey cold' than is good for them.

By George! intj. phr. (popular).—An ejaculation signifying either surprise, or anger, or used without any special meaning. Phrases of the kind are very numerous, and are mainly employed by those whose poverty of language is otherwise very marked. [By George! may either be a reference to St. George, the patron saint of England, or to the predominant Christian name of the early sovereigns of the Brunswick dynasty.]

1731. Fielding, Grub Street Opera, Act iii., Sc. 7. By George, I'll make an example of him.

1737. Bacchus and Venus, p. 117. 'Fore George, I'd knock him down.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxxviii. 'I—er—a little subject to this sort of thing—er—By George!'

By Goldam! intj. phr. (American).—A semi-veiled oath. The Yankee is peculiarly fertile in variations on the name of God, and gives a striking proof of his ingenuity in inventing new forms for the forbidden I swear. He has his by Gorram! by Goldam! and by Goshdang! by the side of the English oath by Golly! which occurs as early as 1743.—See Oaths.

By Golly! intj. phr. (popular).—A euphemistic phrase for by God!—See Oaths.

1743. W. Warren, Five Arguments against Tythes. 'The first person consulted a gentleman-farmer, and declared that he never read anything so good in his life. 'By golly,' says he, 'he 'as mauled the parsons.'

1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 204. Then I turn round to him and say, 'By golly, if you don't leave off, I'll broke you over de jaw.'

By Gorram!—See By Goldam!

By Gosh! intj. phr. (popular).—A compromise for By God!

1804. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), I., 210. I promise, by Gosh (which is the most elegant and classical oath imaginable).

1877. W. Black, Green Past, and Picc., ch. xxxv. 'If this goes on,' said he suddenly, 'by Gosh, I'll heave!'

By Gum! By Gummy! intj. phr. (American).—Both these expletives are extracts from the great American Dictionary of Oaths and Cuss Words, compiled by descendants of the Puritan Fathers.—See Oaths.

I860. Haliburton ('Sam Slick'), The Season Ticket, No. ix. 'By gum, Squire Shegog, we have had the greatest bobbery of a shindy in our carriage you ever knowed in all our born days.'

By Hook or By Crook.—See Hook.