bypass
or by-pass
a road enabling motorists to avoid a city or other heavy traffic points or to drive around an obstruction.
a secondary pipe or other channel connected with a main passage, as for conducting a liquid or gas around a fixture, pipe, or appliance.
Electricity. shunt (def. 9).
a surgical procedure in which a diseased or obstructed hollow organ is temporarily or permanently circumvented.: Compare coronary bypass, gastric bypass, heart-lung machine, intestinal bypass.
to avoid (an obstruction, city, etc.) by following a bypass.
to cause (fluid or gas) to follow a secondary pipe or bypass.
to neglect to consult or to ignore the opinion or decision of: He bypassed the foreman and took his grievance straight to the owner.
Origin of bypass
1Other words from bypass
- bypasser, by-passer, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bypass in a sentence
But what happens when some really bright overlord decides to by-pass his local enemies?
Victory | Lester del ReyThe merchants were particularly opposed to the desire of the Virginians to by-pass them and trade with foreign nations directly.
Virginia Under Charles I And Cromwell, 1625-1660 | Wilcomb E. WashburnThis thermostat operates the by-pass damper under the tempering coils, and sometimes the valves on the coils.
Physics | Willis Eugene TowerThe key is so arranged that when not depressed but little gas is admitted through the by-pass to the burner and the flame is low.
Visual Signaling | Signal Corps United States ArmyIn the new model this is accomplished by aid of the regulator by-pass valve at the left-hand side of bottom of lamp.
Visual Signaling | Signal Corps United States Army
British Dictionary definitions for bypass
/ (ˈbaɪˌpɑːs) /
a main road built to avoid a city or other congested area
any system of pipes or conduits for redirecting the flow of a liquid
a means of redirecting the flow of a substance around an appliance through which it would otherwise pass
surgery
the redirection of blood flow, either to avoid a diseased blood vessel or in order to perform heart surgery: See coronary bypass
(as modifier): bypass surgery
electronics
an electrical circuit, esp one containing a capacitor, connected in parallel around one or more components, providing an alternative path for certain frequencies
(as modifier): a bypass capacitor
to go around or avoid (a city, obstruction, problem, etc)
to cause (traffic, fluid, etc) to go through a bypass
to proceed without reference to (regulations, a superior, etc); get round; avoid
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for bypass
[ bī′păs′ ]
A passage created surgically to divert the flow of blood or other bodily fluid or to circumvent an obstructed or diseased organ.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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