B.E.

intransitive verb was or were, been, being

1. to exist; live: Caesar is no more to happen or occur: when will the wedding be? to remain or continue: will he be here long? to come to; belong: peace be with you to have a place or position: the door is on your left
2. as a copula, be links its subject to a predicate nominative, adjective, or pronoun so as to express attribution or identity, and by extension, value, cause, signification, etc.; it is sometimes equivalent to the mathematical sign (=): Mrs. Siddons was an actress; he is handsome; that hat is fifty dollars; let x be y

auxiliary verb

1. used with the past participle of a transitive verb to form the passive voice: he will be sued
2. Archaic used with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs to form a perfect tense: Christ is risen
3. used with the present participle of another verb to express continuation: the player is running with the ball
4. used with the present participle or infinitive of another verb to express futurity, possibility, obligation, intention, etc.: he is starting next week, you are to help him