by the time
English
Prepositional phrase
- When (some future event has come to pass).
- I'll be an old man by the time you finish!
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
- But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, […] . By the time we reached the house we were thanking our stars she had come. Mrs. Cooke came out from under the port-cochere to welcome her.
Usage notes
There is some continuing situation until the event shown by by the time. There is no such presupposition for when.
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