be

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Definitions (44)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (18)

  1. intransitive verb To exist in actuality; have life or reality: I think, therefore I am.
  2. intransitive verb To occupy a specified position: The food is on the table.
  3. intransitive verb To remain in a certain state or situation undisturbed, untouched, or unmolested: Let the children be.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

man ·  time ·  place ·  thing ·  life ·  more ·  work ·  hand

Used in the same contextWord Family

be:   was ·  were ·  being ·  been ·  are ·  am ·  is
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English ben, from Old English bēon; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots. See am1, is, etc. for links to other Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Under the verb be are classed, as identical in sense, the surviving forms of three orig. independent verbs, which, supplementing each other's defects, serve together to make up the substantive verb or copula; they are represented by the forms be, am, and was. Be, infinitive, early modern English also bee, from Middle English be, bee, been, ben, beon, from Anglo-Saxon beón, bión; present indicative singular 1st person be, early modern English also bee, from Middle English be, bee, beo, from Anglo-Saxon beó, rarely beóm, bióm (retaining the suffix -m, which appears also in am) = Old Saxon bium = OFries. bem = Old High German pim (bim), Middle High German G. bin; 2d person beest, be'st, dial, bist, from Middle English beest, best, beost, bist, from Anglo-Saxon bist = Old Saxon bist = Old High German pis, pist, Middle High German G. bist; 3d person be, dial. also beeth, bes, from Middle English beth, beoth, northern bes, from Anglo-Saxon bith; plural be, archaic and dial. been, ben, bin, also beth, from Middle English been, ben, bin, etc., properly (as indicative) beeth, beth, beoth, from Anglo-Saxon beóth (in all three persons) = Old High German 1st person pirumes, 2d pirut (Middle High German birnt, bint) (3d sint); with similar forms in subjunctive, etc.; all from a common Teutonic √ *beu = Latin fu- in perfect fuisse, have been (indicative fui, I was, I have been), future participle futurus, about to be (see future), future infinitive fore, be about to be, = Greek φν/εσθαι, be, become, grow (active φν/ειν, produce) (later ult. English physic, physical, etc.), = Sanskrit √ bhū, become, come into being, take place, exist, be; the sense ‘become’ being still evident in Anglo-Saxon, and giving the present generally a future implication. 2. Am, etc., present indicative (without infinitive): 1st person am (often contr. 'm in I'm), from Middle English am, amm, em, from Old Northumbrian eam, am, Anglo-Saxon eom = Icelandic em (modern usually er) = Gothic (Moesogothic) im (orig. *ism) = Latin sum (orig. *esum) = Greek εἰμί, dial. ἐμμί (orig. *ἐσμί), = Old Bulgarian yesmi = Bohemian jsem, etc., = Lithuanian esmi, etc., = Sanskrit asmi; 2d person art, from Middle English art, ert, from Anglo-Saxon eart, Old Northumbrian arth = Icelandic ert = Gothic (Moesogothic) is = Latin es = Greek εἴ, dial. ἐσσ, σ1ί, = Old Bulgarian yesi, etc., = Sanskrit asi; 3d person is, from Middle English is, es, from Anglo-Saxon is = Old Saxon ist = OFries. ist = Old High German Middle High German G. ist = Icelandic er, earlier es, = Swedish är = Danish er (extended in Swedish Danish also to 1st and 2d person) = Goth, ist = Latin est = Greek ἐστί = Old Bulgarian yestĭ, etc., = Sanskrit asti; plural are, from Middle English are, aren, arne, ere, eren, erne, from Old Northumbrian aron, earon (in all three persons) = Icelandic 1st erum, 2d eruth, 3d eru, = Swedish 1st äro, 2d ären, 3d äro, = Danish ere: a new formation from the stem as seen in the singular art, etc., taking the place in Scandinavian and Old Northumbrian, etc., of the older form, namely, Anglo-Saxon sind, also in double plural sindon (in all three persons), = Old Saxon sind, sinden = OFries. send = Old High German Middle High German 3d plural sint, German sind = Gothic (Moesogothic) 3d plural sind = L. 1st sumus, 2d estis, 3d sunt, = Greek 1st ἐσμέν, 2d ἐστέ, 3d εἰσί, dial. ἒασι, = Sanskrit 1st smas, 2d stha, 3d santi; also in subjunctive (lost since early Middle English), Anglo-Saxon 1st person sī, plural sīn, = OFries. sē = Old Saxon sī = Old High German Middle High German sī, German sei = Icelandic sē, earlier sjā, = Gothic (Moesogothic) sijau, etc., = Latin sim, Old Latin sīem = Greek εἴην = Sanskrit syām, etc., with similar (in Anglo-Saxon identical) forms for the other persons; all from a common root represented by Sanskrit√ as, be, exist. 3. Was, preterit indicative (without infinitive in modern English): singular, 1st and 3d person was, from Middle English was, wæs, wes, from Anglo-Saxon wæs = Old Saxon was = OFries. was = Dutch was = Old High German was, Middle High German G. war = Icelandic var, earlier vas, = Swedish Danish var = Gothic (Moesogothic) was; 2d person wert, earlier were, from Middle English were, from Anglo-Saxon wǣre; plural were, from Middle English were, weren, from Anglo-Saxon wǣron (so subjunctive were, from Middle English were, from Anglo-Saxon wǣre, etc.; Anglo-Saxon imperative wes, of which a relic remains in English wassail, q. v.), with similar forms in the other tongues; past participle, Anglo-Saxon gewesen (usually beón, English been), etc.: properly preterit (and past participle) of the strong verb, Anglo-Saxon infinitive wesan = Old Saxon wesan = OFries. wesa = Dutch wezen = Old High German wesan, Middle High German wesen (German wesen, n., being, a being) = Icelandic vera, earlier vesa, = Swedish vara = Danish være = Gothic (Moesogothic) wisan, be, = Sanskrit √ vas, dwell, abide, live. To the same root are referred Greek ἂστν, a city, dwelling-place (see asteism), Latin verna (for *vesna), a household slave (see vernacular).—In modern literary English the form be in the indicative is only archaic or poetical, but it still flourishes in dial. use.
  2. from Middle English be, from Anglo-Saxon be = D. G. Danish Swedish, etc., be = French bé = Spanish Portuguese Italian be, from Latin be, shortened from beta (from Greek βῆτα: see beta), or formed from b + e, the usual assistant vowel in the names of the letters.
 

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/bi/
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