English

Alternative forms

• by-your-leave

Prepositional phrase

by your leave

1. with your permission.
   • 1983, Tamora Pierce, Alanna: The First Adventure

     She leaned over and picked up Lightning. "By your leave, your Grace."

   • 2006, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

     "By your leave, Mr. Turner" [...] "By YOUR leave, Mr. Norrington."

Noun

by your leave ‎(plural by your leaves)

1. Request for permission.
   • 1897, Shanghai Mercury, Shanghai by Night and Day: Illustrated by 23 Reproductions from Photographs. Vol. I.

     "The natives have gathered on the top of every grave mound near by and though many resent the riding over their fields without a so much as a 'By your leave'...."

   • 1946, Konstantin Trenev, In a Cossack Village, and Other Stories

     "He picked flowers without so much as a 'by your leave.'"

   • 1986, Judith A. Jance, Trial by Fury

     "'To a place you've broken into without so much as a by-your-leave, to say nothing of a search warrant?'"

Usage notes

• Very commonly found in the expression Without so much as a 'by your leave'.