noun, adjective
noun (plural standbys) noun a person or thing that can always be used if needed, for example if sb/sth else is not available or if there is an emergency:
I always keep a pizza in the freezer as a standby * a standby electricity generator * Wilson has been called into the squad as a standby * A dark suit is a useful standby for any formal occasion
IDIOMS
on standby
1 ready to do sth immediately if needed or asked:
The emergency services were put on standby after a bomb warning. * As the level of the water rose, villages were put on evacuation standby. * The troops are on 24-hour standby (= ready to move at an time of the day or night).
2 ready to travel or go somewhere if a ticket or sth that is needed suddenly becomes available:
He was put on standby for the flight to New York.
adjective [onlybeforenoun] a standby ticket for a flight, theatre, etc. cannot be bought in advance and is only available a very short time before the plane leaves or the performance starts:
a standby ticket / passenger
Rate this entry
About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for standby is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Does standby appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — standby appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
