bypass: Meaning and Definition of

by•pass

1. a road enabling motorists to avoid a city or other heavy traffic points or to drive around an obstruction.
2. a secondary pipe or other channel connected with a main passage, as for conducting a liquid or gas around a fixture, pipe, or appliance.
3. shunt (def. 9).
4. a surgical procedure in which a diseased or obstructed hollow organ is temporarily or permanently circumvented. Cf. coronary bypass, gastric bypass, heart-lung machine, intestinal bypass.

1. to avoid (an obstruction, city, etc.) by following a bypass.
2. to cause (fluid or gas) to follow a secondary pipe or bypass.
3. to neglect to consult or to ignore the opinion or decision of: He bypassed the foreman and took his grievance straight to the owner.