by your leave

See also: by-your-leave

English

Prepositional phrase

by your leave

1. With your permission.
   • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act III:

     Sir I weare my weapon for mine owne defence,
     And by your leaue will weare it yet a while.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 40, column 2:

     Miſtris Ford, by my troth you are very wel met: / by your leaue good Miſtris.

   • 1983, Tamora Pierce, Alanna: The First Adventure:

     She leaned over and picked up Lightning. "By your leave, your Grace."

   • 2006, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest:

     "By your leave, Mr. Turner" […] "By YOUR leave, Mr. Norrington."

Noun

by your leave (plural by your leaves)

1. Request for permission.
   • 1897, Shanghai Mercury, Shanghai by Night and Day: Illustrated by 23 Reproductions from Photographs. Vol. I.

     The natives have gathered on the top of every grave mound near by and though many resent the riding over their fields without a so much as a 'By your leave' […]

   • 1946, Konstantin Trenev, In a Cossack Village, and Other Stories

     He picked flowers without so much as a 'by your leave.'

   • 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by Ex-Leper (Michael Palin):

     One minute I'm a leper with a trade, next minute my livelihood's gone. Not so much as a by-your-leave!

   • 1986, Judith A. Jance, Trial by Fury

     'To a place you've broken into without so much as a by-your-leave, to say nothing of a search warrant?'

Usage notes

• Very commonly found in the expression without so much as (a) by your leave.

Alternative forms

• by-your-leave

See also

• French leave