by your leave
See also: by-your-leave
English
[edit]Prepositional phrase
[edit]- 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
[edit]by your leave (plural by your leaves)
- 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?'
- 1897, Shanghai Mercury, Shanghai by Night and Day: Illustrated by 23 Reproductions from Photographs. Vol. I.
Usage notes
[edit]- Very commonly found in the expression without so much as (a) by your leave.