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I searched and got "no match" so I make bold to submit the possibility that a new phrase has entered the language. Heard it uttered by George W. Bush when he was interviewed during the Olympic pre-show.
Speaking of the very high security arrangements for the Olympics he said something to the effect that the US was giving the security forces' arrangements for other large gatherings a "go by."
From the sense of it I got that the tight security measures at the Olympics are a measure by which others may go by.
Has this gained popularity of late and I missed it? GW's use was first time I heard it.
(Lost in the wilds of New Hampshire - e)
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Dear Max: If the President coins a phrase, a million people will instantly adopt it.
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I haven't heard "go by" before, wow. Your interpretation makes sense to me. Maybe William Safire will address it in his weekly NY Times column. Meanwhile, I haven't heard "make bold" either! Is that a regionalism? Is it your own coinage? I like it... (and happy birthday, fellow Aquarian and serpent!!  )
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Bush used the phrase in remarks on February 28, 2001: instead of sitting by and saying, "Oh, maybe something positive will happen," it will serve as a go-by, it will serve as an opportunity for us to say, "Let's solve the problems early before it's too late." and again in his October 11, 2001 press conference. I doubt this usage originated here, but have googled the phrase only when combined with "bush". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/transcripts/bushtext022801.htm, about 40% of the way down. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/combating/bush_10-11b.html; final paragraph
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obviously a nother bushonic bevue...
go-by - An intentional slight; a snub.
not to be confused with:
goby - Any of numerous usually small spiny-finned fishes of the family Gobiidae, having the pelvic fins united to form a suction disk.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company
-joe (mcguffin) gobemouche
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well, I couldn't just give it a go-by, could I.
here is the compleat and unexpurgated purple stuff; you figure out which obsolete nonsense he meant.
1. The action of going by in various senses; the passing of a river, of time, or of a body from place to place. Obs. exc. in nonce-uses.
1673 Evelyn Mem. (1857) II. 92 Now growing into years, yet thinking little of this go-by. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 100 All stirrings one and other are nothing but go-byes or shiftings of bodies. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. vii, In the go-by of the river he is gone as a shadow goes.
b. Coursing and Racing. The action of getting in front of another dog or horse. (See also 3a.)
1611 Markham Countr. Content. i. vii. (1615) 105 If a coate shall be more than two turnes and a goe by, or the bearing of the Hare equall with two turnes. 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVII. 43 The other horse+determined not to be again surprised by a go-by. 1875 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. iii. viii. §3. 269 The Go-bye is where a greyhound starts a clear length behind his opponent, and yet passes him in a straight run, and gets a clear length before him.
2. concr. Something that ‘goes by’, or is superior to (something else). rare.
1823 Examiner 710/1 The Cataract of the Ganges amounts to a go-by to every thing that has preceded it.
3. Phr. to give (slang, †to tip) the go-by to: a. To outstrip, leave behind. (Cf. sense 1b.) †Also, to leave.
1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xvii. 328 Who had rather others should make a ladder of his dead corps to scale a city by it, than a bridge of it whilest alive for his punies to give him the Goe-by, and passe over him to preferment. 1688 Miege Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., To give one the go-by in a Race. 1797 M. Robinson Walsingham III. 260 What business have you in this lady's chamber?+Tip us the go-by, or I shall be apt to shew you the way. 1798 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1799) II. 386 Does a man of fashion drive his curricle+passing his competitors?+He is then said to ‘Tip them the go-by’. 1825 Sporting Mag. XVI. 340 One dog gives another the go-by. 1833 Blackw. Mag. XXXIII. 846/2 We have given the go-by to our excellent friend Mitchelson's beautiful woods. 1835 Sir G. Stephen Adv. Search Horse xiv. (1841) 203 Eager to ‘give it the go by’, they put the horse to his speed.
b. To give the slip to, elude, escape from by artifice. †Also, to pass a deception on. Obs.
1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 211 But the King, understanding of this division, gave Waller the go-by, returned towards Oxford [etc.] 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 70 Except an Apprentice is fully instructed how to Adulterate, and Vernish, and give you the Go-by upon occasion, his Master may be charged with Neglect. 1720 Welton Suffer. Son of God I. ix. 211 He+found that they had not made for Jerusalem in their way Back, but had Given him the Go-by. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxviii, We may give him the go-by by running through the Needles. 1886 Stevenson Kidnapped ix. (1888) 74 A French ship+gave us the go-by in the fog.
c. To pass without notice, to disregard, slight; to ‘cut’ (a person); to evade (a difficulty). Also in indirect pass.
1654 [see gloat n.1]. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) III. 398 If they can give you the go-by in it, the issue is obvious. 1712 S. Sewall Diary 22 Aug. (1879) II. 361 The Govr. speaks with some earnestness that we should not give the Ordinary Court the go-by, in taking off Entails. 1805 Edin. Rev. VI. 136 He gave the go-by to a multitude of toasts. 1833 Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 987 In two of the Latin versions the difficulty is grappled with but not overcome; and in two it is given the go-by. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xlviii, Becky+gave Mrs. Washington White the go-by in the Ring. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter ii. 115 Successive licensers had given the work a sort of go-by. 1880 McCarthy Own Times III. xlv. 382 It gave the go-by to such inconvenient questions. 1892 Law Times XCII. 156/2 A junior judge+sitting in another division, practically gives that order the go-by.
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And getting the nod from a boss or treasurerer for a purchase could be called a "go-buy".
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I have heard "go by" before in the sense of using a minor occasion as a practice for a big one, for example if the Mayoress comes to your school to present your sports day prizes you might use it to make sure everything works properly for when the Queen or President as the case may be comes for whatever reason.
Make bold, no not a wow coinage. I've definitely heard it -- almost always as "I might make bold to say ....."
Bingley
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I searched and got "no match"
Something been bugging me about this and I finally googled it. Just the two words with no dash or quotes got me 108 million hits; in quotes or with a dash between, 688 thousand. Whadya do to get no hits?
Or did you figure 108 million was as good as none?
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, faldage. That's why, when I found the links of my above post, I limited the search to the phrase in conjunction with "bush".
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We've been using 'go by' for years. I myself use it quite occasionally in the following context:
I'm looking forward to next weekend's party. It should be pretty good if last week's one was anything to go by.
Nah. It's not a new term. Been around for ages. Dubya heard it on the radio or read it in a book (whilst colouring in the pictures, presumably). Doubtless he has a special dialect adviser who looks up these words for him. Of course (and it's not unknown to happen), he may have misused it.
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I dunno, Rubrick. I think we agree it's pretty common as a verbal phrase; what wow was pointing out is its new? use as a noun phrase. I think.
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I'm gonna agree with Rubrick on this one. As faldage noted, you get a lot of hits if you google "go by": but as ASp notes, many of them are verb usages; e.g. "I will go by the store today." However, even a search for "+a go-by", to limit the hits to noun usage, still gets 2350 hits, many of which seem to "fit" the usage we're discussing. For example: http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1159/2/minport.html: "T. Use linguistics’ or some other pattern recognition as a go by for developing standard" (appears to be from fall of 2000) Edit: Earliest usages appear to be mostly from Britain or India, but often the meaning appears to be somewhat different: sometime "a test", and sometime "a dead letter". E.g, from August 3, 1998: "by then, the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement had been a go-by". From December 1996: Coverage of social areas is also given a go-by because news managers believe that readers are more interested in "hard" news than in 'soft' news. http://makeashorterlink.com/?D2755286http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z3C52486 (near end)
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Ah, 'scuse me, but I used the SEARCh at the AWAD/board to see if it had been discussed -- not a Google! Sorry I wasn't clearer. And about "making bold" ... it is indeed an old way to ask permission to do something (sort of) before the fact. Sometimes the phrases I use I learned from my parents ... and sometimes, writing here, I feel as if I am speaking Middle English to an erudite Modern Group ! 
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Giving something the "go by" is covered in tsuwm's purple prose above. It means to pass something by, to leave it behind, as in "I failed the exam in AWADeering this term; I'll take something else next term and give AWAD the go by". This usage is really not all that uncommon - I've seen it in a number of books, and I don't typically read books which were written in 1642 or whatever date the OED gives. 1642, incidentally, was the year in which Abel Tasman gave New Zealand the once-over before giving it the go by.
As a general rule if Dubya has used a phrase he's got it wrong, except by sheer accident. If you want an example, try the semantic variations he's added to the meaning of the words "peace" and "war". Tolstoy should have been so innovative.
"Make so bold" is a real anachronism though. It was in fairly common use up until the middle of the Victorian period and remained in use in formal English up until about the turn of the 19th century. You would typically see it used in an expression such as "May I make so bold as to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage?", thus adding yet another anachronism to another anachronism and so on ad infinitum.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Welcome back, Kiwi! "Make so bold" is a real anachronism though. Does anyone ever uses or hear the phrase "May I be so bold as to", or has that one also slid out of the language? As a general rule if Dubya has used a phrase he's got it wrong.bushwhack-count©: #1
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"ask for your daughter's hand in marriage"
I always thought the phrase's oddity lay in the notion that her hand was the portion sought.
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Whatever trips your trigger!
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