by-your-leave

[ bahy-yer-leev ]

/ ˈbaɪ yərˈliv /

an apology for not having sought permission.

Origin of by-your-leave

First recorded in 1910–15

by-product, by-road, by-street, by-talk, by-work, by-your-leave, byam shaw, byatt, byblos, byde, bydgoszcz

What on earth possessed Humphrey and Susan to take you off to a house like that, without a with-your-leave or a by-your-leave?

The Honour of the Clintons |Archibald Marshall
"I am obliged to you for that, kinsman," said his lordship in Gaelic, with a by-your-leave to the cleric.

John Splendid |Neil Munro
And, even if they succeeded, the Imperial Government would take twenty per cent of the gross without so much as a by-your-leave.

Despoilers of the Golden Empire |Gordon Randall Garrett
Without a by-your-leave, Judy snatched up one from the top and bound it around the poor gory leg.

Molly Brown's College Friends |Nell Speed

Ichabod had filched from him his possession of most value; and without even the form of a by-your-leave.

A Breath of Prairie and other stories |Will Lillibridge

by-your-leave

a request for permission (esp in the phrase without so much as a by-your-leave)