the go by

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

To give one the go by is to deceive him; to leave him in the lurch.--Craven Glossary.


TO GO BY

To call; to stop at. Used in the Southern States.--Sherwood's Georgia. Mr. Pickering says this singular expression is often used at the South. "Will you go by and dine with me?" i. e. in passing my house will you stop and dine?. "Its origin," observes Mr. Pickering, "is very natural. When a gentleman is about riding a great distance through that country, where there are few great roads, and the houses or plantations are often two or three miles from them, a friend living near his route asks him to go by his plantation, and dine or lodge with him."--Vocab.

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