go by phrasal verb ( see also ↑ go )
1 . if time goes by, it passes:
Things will get easier as time goes by.
as the days/weeks/years go by
As the weeks went by, I became more and more worried.
hardly a day/week/month etc goes by
Hardly a week goes by without some food scare being reported in the media.
in days/times/years etc gone by (=in the past)
These herbs would have been grown for medicinal purposes in days gone by.
2 . go by something to form an opinion about someone or something from the information or experience that you have:
You can’t always go by appearances.
If his past plays are anything to go by, this should be a play worth watching.
3 . go by something to do things according to a set of rules or laws:
Only a fool goes by the rules all the time.
There was no doubt that the referee had gone by the book (=had obeyed all the rules) .
⇨ go by the board at ↑ board 1 (8), ⇨ go by the name of something at ↑ name 1 (1)