Be
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
Be
n 1: a light strong brittle grey toxic bivalent metallic element
[syn: {beryllium}, {Be}, {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}, {be}]
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}, {be}] [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}, {be}]
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: {be}, {follow}]
9: represent, as of a character on stage; "Derek Jacobi was
Hamlet" [syn: {embody}, {be}, {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: {be}, {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}, {be}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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
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
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
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.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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
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