bypass: Meaning and Definition of

by•pass

Pronunciation: (bī'pas", -päs"), [key]
— n., v., -passed -past -passed -past -pass&syling.
—n.
  1. a road enabling motorists to avoid a city or other heavy traffic points or to drive around an obstruction.
  2. a secondary pipe or other channel connected with a main passage, as for conducting a liquid or gas around a fixture, pipe, or appliance.
  3. shunt (def. 9).
  4. a surgical procedure in which a diseased or obstructed hollow organ is temporarily or permanently circumvented. Cf. coronary bypass, gastric bypass, heart-lung machine, intestinal bypass.
—v.t.
  1. to avoid (an obstruction, city, etc.) by following a bypass.
  2. to cause (fluid or gas) to follow a secondary pipe or bypass.
  3. to neglect to consult or to ignore the opinion or decision of: He bypassed the foreman and took his grievance straight to the owner.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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