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Be   /bi/   Listen
verb
Be  v. i.  (past was; past part. been; pres. part. being)  
1.
To exist actually, or in the world of fact; to have existence. "To be contents his natural desire." "To be, or not to be: that is the question."
2.
To exist in a certain manner or relation, whether as a reality or as a product of thought; to exist as the subject of a certain predicate, that is, as having a certain attribute, or as belonging to a certain sort, or as identical with what is specified, a word or words for the predicate being annexed; as, to be happy; to be here; to be large, or strong; to be an animal; to be a hero; to be a nonentity; three and two are five; annihilation is the cessation of existence; that is the man.
3.
To take place; to happen; as, the meeting was on Thursday.
4.
To signify; to represent or symbolize; to answer to. "The field is the world." "The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." Note: The verb to be (including the forms is, was, etc.) is used in forming the passive voice of other verbs; as, John has been struck by James. It is also used with the past participle of many intransitive verbs to express a state of the subject. But have is now more commonly used as the auxiliary, though expressing a different sense; as, "Ye have come too late but ye are come. " "The minstrel boy to the war is gone." The present and imperfect tenses form, with the infinitive, a particular future tense, which expresses necessity, duty, or purpose; as, government is to be supported; we are to pay our just debts; the deed is to be signed to-morrow. Note: Have or had been, followed by to, implies movement. "I have been to Paris." "Have you been to Franchard?" Note: Been, or ben, was anciently the plural of the indicative present. "Ye ben light of the world." Afterwards be was used, as in our Bible: "They that be with us are more than they that be with them." Ben was also the old infinitive: "To ben of such power." Be is used as a form of the present subjunctive: "But if it be a question of words and names." But the indicative forms, is and are, with if, are more commonly used.
Be it so, a phrase of supposition, equivalent to suppose it to be so; or of permission, signifying let it be so.
If so be, in case.
To be from, to have come from; as, from what place are you? I am from Chicago.
To let be, to omit, or leave untouched; to let alone. "Let be, therefore, my vengeance to dissuade."
Synonyms: To be, Exist. The verb to be, except in a few rare cases, like that of Shakespeare's "To be, or not to be", is used simply as a copula, to connect a subject with its predicate; as, man is mortal; the soul is immortal. The verb to exist is never properly used as a mere copula, but points to things that stand forth, or have a substantive being; as, when the soul is freed from all corporeal alliance, then it truly exists. It is not, therefore, properly synonymous with to be when used as a copula, though occasionally made so by some writers for the sake of variety; as in the phrase "there exists (is) no reason for laying new taxes." We may, indeed, say, "a friendship has long existed between them," instead of saying, "there has long been a friendship between them;" but in this case, exist is not a mere copula. It is used in its appropriate sense to mark the friendship as having been long in existence.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Be" Quotes from Famous Books



... their mouths full of supper. There were yells, and jumps, and a general row. I jerked away from Pocahontas and ran as fast as my tired legs would carry me. I went toward the attacking party. It might be of Indians too, but I didn't care. I was afraid of Pocahontas—more afraid of her than of any braves in the world. But these invaders proved to be white men; a large party of miners going toward Pike's Peak, by wagon instead ...
— The Blunders of a Bashful Man • Metta Victoria Fuller Victor
... whose waves like a rampart flow round thee, Conveying thy mandates to every shore, And the empire of nature no longer can bound thee, And the world be the scene of thy ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 3. (of 4) • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... Mr. Vance set out for the spinney and cottage; they were not to be found—nobody had ever heard of them. He continued his travels, and some months later, at a loan collection of pictures in a gallery in Edinburgh, he came to an abrupt—a very abrupt—halt, before the portrait of a gentleman in ancient costume. The face seemed strangely familiar—the ...
— Scottish Ghost Stories • Elliott O'Donnell
... of the people," having first secured their good will by dividing among them, man by man, the lands taken from their enemies, he ventured to propose the question to the people, whether they "chose and ordered that he should be king," and was declared king with such unanimity, as had not been observed in the election of any of his predecessors. But this circumstance diminished not Tarquin's hope of obtaining the throne; nay, because he had observed that the question of the distribution ...
— The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 • Titus Livius
... general. They found means, partly by their promises, and partly by corruption, to bring over the earls of Roxburgh and Marchmont, with the whole squadron who had hitherto been unpropitious to the court. They disarmed the resentment of the clergy, by promoting an act to be inserted in the union, declaring the presbyterian discipline to be the only government in the church of Scotland, unalterable in all succeeding times, and a fundamental article of the treaty. They soothed the African ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.II. - From William and Mary to George II. • Tobias Smollett


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