Be

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Be \Be\ (b[=e]), v. i. [imp. {Was} (w[o^]z); p. p. {Been}
     (b[i^]n); p. pr. & vb. n. {Being}.] [OE. been, beon, AS.
     be['o]n to be, be['o]m I am; akin to OHG. bim, pim, G. bin, I
     am, Gael. & Ir. bu was, W. bod to be, Lith. bu-ti, O. Slav.
     by-ti, to be, L. fu-i I have been, fu-turus about to be,
     fo-re to be about to be, and perh. to fieri to become, Gr.


     fy^nai to be born, to be, Skr. bh[=u] to be. This verb is
     defective, and the parts lacking are supplied by verbs from
     other roots, is, was, which have no radical connection with
     be. The various forms, am, are, is, was, were, etc., are
     considered grammatically as parts of the verb "to be", which,
     with its conjugational forms, is often called the substantive
     verb. [root]97. Cf. {Future}, {Physic}.]
     1. To exist actually, or in the world of fact; to have
        existence.
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              To be contents his natural desire.    --Pope.
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              To be, or not to be: that is the question. --Shak.
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     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.
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     3. To take place; to happen; as, the meeting was on Thursday.
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     4. To signify; to represent or symbolize; to answer to.
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              The field is the world.               --Matt. xiii.
                                                    38.
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              The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the
              seven churches.                       --Rev. i. 20.
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     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.
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     Note: Have or had been, followed by to, implies movement. "I
           have been to Paris." --Sydney Smith. "Have you been to
           Franchard ?" --R. L. Stevenson.
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     Note: Been, or ben, was anciently the plural of the
           indicative present. "Ye ben light of the world."
           --Wyclif, Matt. v. 14. Afterwards be was used, as in
           our Bible: "They that be with us are more than they
           that be with them." --2 Kings vi. 16. Ben was also the
           old infinitive: "To ben of such power." --R. of
           Gloucester. Be is used as a form of the present
           subjunctive: "But if it be a question of words and
           names." --Acts xviii. 15. But the indicative forms, is
           and are, with if, are more commonly used.
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     {Be it so}, a phrase of supposition, equivalent to suppose it
        to be so; or of permission, signifying let it be so.
        --Shak.
  
     {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." --Spenser.
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     Syn: {To be}, {Exist}.
  
     Usage: 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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Be- \Be-\ [AS. be, and in accented form b[imac], akin to OS. be
     and b[imac], OHG. bi, pi, and p[imac], MHG. be and b[imac],
     G. be and bei, Goth. bi, and perh. Gr. 'amfi` about (cf. AS.
     bese['o]n to look about). [root]203. Cf. {By}, {Amb-}.]
     A prefix, originally the same word as by; joined with verbs,
     it serves:
     (a) To intensify the meaning; as, bespatter, bestir.
     (b) To render an intransitive verb transitive; as, befall (to
         fall upon); bespeak (to speak for).
     (c) To make the action of a verb particular or definite; as,
         beget (to get as offspring); beset (to set around).
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     Note: It is joined with certain substantives, and a few
           adjectives, to form verbs; as, bedew, befriend,
           benight, besot; belate (to make late); belittle (to
           make little). It also occurs in certain nouns, adverbs,
           and prepositions, often with something of the force of
           the preposition by, or about; as, belief (believe),
           behalf, bequest (bequeath); because, before, beneath,
           beside, between.
           In some words the original force of be is obscured or
           lost; as, in become, begin, behave, behoove, belong.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Be
       n : a light strong brittle gray toxic bivalent metallic element
           [syn: {beryllium}, {glucinium}, {atomic number 4}]
       v 1: have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective
            or a predicate noun); "John is rich"; "This is not a
            good answer"
       2: be identical to; be someone or something; "The president of
          the company is John Smith"; "This is my house"
       3: occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere; "Where is
          my umbrella?" "The toolshed is in the back"; "What is
          behind this behavior?"
       4: have an existence, be extant; "Is there a God?" [syn: {exist}]
       5: happen, occur, take place; "I lost my wallet; this was
          during the visit to my parents' house"; "There were two
          hundred people at his funeral"; "There was a lot of noise
          in the kitchen"
       6: be identical or equivalent to; "One dollar equals 1,000
          rubles these days!" [syn: {equal}] [ant: {differ}]
       7: form or compose; "This money is my only income"; "The stone
          wall was the backdrop for the performance"; "These
          constitute my entire belonging"; "The children made up the
          chorus"; "This sum represents my entire income for a
          year"; "These few men comprise his entire army" [syn: {constitute},
           {represent}, {make up}, {comprise}]
       8: work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a
          specific function; "He is a herpetologist"; "She is our
          resident philosopher" [syn: {follow}]
       9: represent, as of a character on stage; "Derek Jacobi was
          Hamlet" [syn: {embody}, {personify}]
       10: spend or use time; "I may be an hour"
       11: have life, be alive; "Our great leader is no more"; "My
           grandfather lived until the end of war" [syn: {live}]
       12: to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted -- used
           only in infinitive form; "let her be"
       13: be priced at; "These shoes cost $100" [syn: {cost}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  27 Moby Thesaurus words for "be":
     abide, be extant, be found, be in existence, be met with,
     be present, be the case, be there, breathe, come, continue, endure,
     exist, go on, happen to be, have being, have place, hold, live,
     move, obtain, occur, persist, prevail, remain, stand, subsist
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  be
       
           The {country code} for Belgium.
       
          (1999-01-27)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  BEE. The name of a well known insect.
       2. Bees are considered ferae naturae while unreclaimed; and they are 
  not more subjects of property while in their natural state, than the birds 
  which have their nests on the tree of an individual. 3 Binn. R. 546 5 Sm. & 
  Marsh. 333. This agrees with the Roman law. Inst. 2 1, 14; Dig. 41, 1, 5, 2; 
  7 Johns. Rep. 16; 2 Bl. Com. 392 Bro. Ab. Propertie, 37; Coop. Justin. 458. 
       3. In New York it has been decided that bees in a tree belong, to the 
  owner of the soil, while unreclaimed. When they have been reclaimed, and the 
  owner can identify them, they belong to him, and not to the owner of the 
  soil. 15 Wend. R. 550. See 1 Cowen, R. 243.