set by

set by idiom
Put aside for future use, as in She had shelves and shelves of cans set by for some imagined food emergency. [Late 1500s] Also see set aside, def. 1; set store by.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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