be
be (bē; unstressed bi)
intransitive verb was or were, been, being be′·ing
- 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
- 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
Etymology: ME been, beon < OE beon: be is a defective verb with parts from three unrelated stems: 1) the IE substantive verb, base *es-, as in am, is, Sans ásmi, asti, Goth im, ist; 2) IE base *wes-, stay, remain, as in was, were, Sans vasati, (he) lingers, stays, Goth wisan, was, wēsum, remain, be; 3) IE base *bheu-, grow, become, (it) occurs, is there, L fieri, as in be, been, Sans bhávati, be, become: see bondage
auxiliary verb
- used with the past participle of a transitive verb to form the passive voice he will be sued
- Archaic used with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs to form a perfect tense Christ is risen
- used with the present participle of another verb to express continuation the player is running with the ball
- 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
be off!
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Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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