give the go-by

Verb

give the go-by (third-person singular simple present gives the go-by, present participle giving the go-by, simple past gave the go-by, past participle given the go-by)

1. (archaic, transitive) To leave behind, outdistance.
   • Sliding Cube was taken on in front at Randwick and a couple of runners gave her the ‘go by’ when the field straightened.2007 August 5, Sunday Mail
2. (transitive) To avoid dealing with; to disregard, ignore.
   • [T]hey express sweetly enough some natural sentiments,—and what more would you have in a song? You have had far more in some songs to which we have given the go-by[…]1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns
   • To those other, those so august, accomplishments she no more pretended. She gave them the go-by.1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson
3. (transitive) To snub (someone); to end a relationship.
   • "You're givin' me the go-by. Please, Jack, don't give me the go-by.[…]
     Did you see him gi'me me the go-by? He's through. That's all—through."1924 July [1923 August], Samuel Badisch Ornitz, “Sixth Period”, in Haunch Paunch and Jowl, eighth printing, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, section I, page 265
   • "If you mean to give him the go-by, you ought to do it cleanly […] and not string the fellow along."2012, Christina Brooke, Mad About the Earl