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Webster 1913 Edition


Begin

Be-gin′

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Began
,
Begun
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Beginning
.]
[AS.
beginnan
(akin to OS.
biginnan
, D. & G.
beginnen
, OHG.
biginnan
, Goth.,
du-ginnan
, Sw.
begynna
, Dan.
begynde
); pref.
be-
+ an assumed
ginnan
. √31. See
Gin
to begin.]
1.
To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence.
Vast chain of being! which from God
began
.
Pope.
2.
To do the first act or the first part of an action; to enter upon or commence something new, as a new form or state of being, or course of action; to take the first step; to start.
“Tears began to flow.”
Dryden.
When I
begin
, I will also make an end.
1 Sam. iii. 12.

Be-gin′

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To enter on; to commence.
Ye nymphs of Solyma !
begin
the song.
Pope.
2.
To trace or lay the foundation of; to make or place a beginning of.
The apostle
begins
our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God.
Locke.
Syn. – To commence; originate; set about; start.

Be-gin′

,
Noun.
Beginning.
[Poetic & Obs.]
Spenser.

Webster 1828 Edition


Begin

BEGIN'

,
Verb.
I.
pret. began; pp. begun. [L.genero,gigno; Heb.to make ready, to adapt,prepare, establish.]
1.
To have an original or first existence; to take rise; to commence.
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began. Luke 1.
Judgment must begin at the house of God. 1 Pet.4.
From Nimrod first the savage race began.
And tears began to flow.
2.
To do the first act; to enter upon something new; to take the first step; as, begin, my muse.
Begin every day to repent.
When I begin, I will also make an end. 1 Sam.3.

BEGIN'

v.t. To do the first act of any thing; to enter on; to commence.
Ye nymphs of Solyma, begin the song.
And this they begin to do. Gen.11.
2.
To trace from any thing, as the first ground; to lay the foundation.
The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God.
To begin with, to enter upon first; to use or employ first; as, to begin with the Latin Grammar; to begin business with a small capital.

Definition 2024


Begin

Begin

See also: begin

Saterland Frisian

Noun

Begin m

  1. beginning; start

Related terms

begin

begin

See also: Begin

English

Verb

begin (third-person singular simple present begins, present participle beginning, simple past began, past participle begun)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
    I began playing the piano at the age of five.   Now that everyone is here, we should begin the presentation.
    • John Locke (1632-1705)
      The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God.
    • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
      Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.
    • 2013 June 29, Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29:
      Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.
  2. (intransitive) To be in the first stage of some situation
    The program begins at 9 o'clock on the dot.    I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
  3. (intransitive) To come into existence.
    • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
      Vast chain of being! which from God began.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

begin (plural begins)

  1. (nonstandard) Beginning; start.

References

  • begin in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
  • begin in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: circumstances · sitting · Christ · #788: begin · wait · laughed · opportunity

Anagrams


Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bə.ˈɣɪn/
  • Hyphenation: be‧gin
  • Rhymes: -ɪn

Noun

begin n (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)

  1. start, beginning

Synonyms

Derived terms

Verb

begin

  1. first-person singular present indicative of beginnen
  2. imperative of beginnen

Anagrams


Volapük

Noun

begin (plural begins)

  1. beginning

Declension