at bay en · ADP
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From bay (“excited howling of dogs”).
Meanings
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(idiomatic, qualifier:set phrase) Unable to come closer; at a distance.
In that case the enemy himself could have occupied the defences of Corinth and held at bay all the Union troops that arrived.
1886, Ulysses S. Grant, chapter XXIX, in Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant:These two books—of sacred, and secular, passages for memory—will serve other good purposes besides merely occupying vacant hours: they will help to keep at bay many anxious thoughts, worrying thoughts, uncharitable thoughts, unholy thoughts.
1889, Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “Preface”, in Sylvie and Bruno, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page xv:The home side grew in confidence after keeping the visitors at bay and took the lead after only nine minutes, from their first foray into the penalty area.
2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:
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(idiomatic, qualifier:set phrase) Cornered; unable to flee.
For a moment my gaze traversed the landscape beneath until it was caught and held by four figures near the base of the cliff—a human figure held at bay by three hyaenodons, those ferocious and blood-thirsty wild dogs of the Eocene.
1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter X, in The Land That Time Forgot:Instead of mounted riders following a pack of hounds, it is envisaged that just two dogs will be used to locate a stag and hold it at bay.
2004 November 22, Valerie Elliott, “Two-dog plan to keep law at bay”, in The Times:The hills, like giants at a hunting, lay / Chin upon hand, to see the game at bay,— / "Now stab and end the creature - to the heft!"
1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXXI:
- Of an animal, especially a docile animal in contrast to a predatory animal which would be blazoned statant: standing, in profile toward dexter, with all four feet on the ground. (If gazing at the viewer, the animal is at gaze.)
Synonyms
back (at a distance) · at arm's length (at a distance) · at a distance (at a distance) · away (at a distance) · trapped (cornered) · cornered (cornered)
Translations (26)
pl trzymany na dystans (unable to come closer) · de auf Abstand (unable to come closer) · pt à distância (unable to come closer) · fi kurissa (cornered) · fi selkä seinää vasten (cornered) · de in die Ecke (drängen) (cornered) · fi kaukana (unable to come closer) · ro la distanță (unable to come closer) · nl op afstand (unable to come closer) · de in die Enge (treiben) (cornered) · da på afstand (unable to come closer) · pl trzymany w szachu (cornered) · nl in het nauw (cornered) · de in Schach (halten) (cornered) · pl trzymany na bezpieczną odległość (unable to come closer) · el σε απόσταση (unable to come closer) · es a raya (unable to come closer) · fr à distance (unable to come closer) · ro în șah (cornered) · fi ahdistettuna nurkkaan (cornered) · fi poissa (unable to come closer) · pl zapędzony w kozi róg (cornered) · fr aux abois (cornered) · es al margen (unable to come closer) · ro legat (cornered) · sh na distanci (unable to come closer)