bylaw

• byrlaw (obsolete)
• by-law
• bye-law, byelaw

From Middle English bylawe, bilawe, partly from Old English bīlage (“bylaw”) and partly from a variant of Middle English byrelawe, birlawe, from Old Norse býjar (“town's; settlement's”) + lǫg (“laws; jurisdiction”). Byrlaw is attested earlier in English but is unattested in Old Norse and the cognates in Scandinavian languages follow the development of bylaw: Danish bylov (“municipal law”), Swedish bylag and byalag.^[1]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪ.lɔː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪ.lɔ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪ.lɑ/

bylaw (plural bylaws)

1. A local custom or law of a settlement or district.
2. A rule made by a local authority to regulate its own affairs.

   Synonym: (US) ordinance

3. A law or rule governing the internal affairs of an organization (e.g., corporation or business).

• bylaw officer

• bawly