begin
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Begin
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English beginnen, from Old English beginnan (“to begin”), from Proto-Germanic *biginnaną (“to begin”) (compare West Frisian begjinne, Low German begünnen, Dutch and German beginnen), from a root *ginnaną also found in Old English onginnan, Old Saxon andginnan and Dutch ontginnen, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take”) (compare Welsh genni (“to delve, submerge oneself”), Latin prehendō (“to grasp, nab”), Albanian zë (“to catch”), Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”)).
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
begin (third-person singular simple present begins, present participle beginning, simple past began, past participle begun)
- (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. The program begins at 9 o'clock on the dot. I rushed to get to class on time, but the lesson had already begun.
- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
- (intransitive) To commence existence.
- Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
- Vast chain of being! which from God began.
- Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.
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Noun[edit]
begin (plural begins)
References[edit]
- begin in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- begin in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Statistics[edit]
Most common English words before 1923: circumstances · sitting · Christ · #788: begin · wait · laughed · opportunity
Anagrams[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
begin n (uncountable, diminutive beginnetje n)
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Verb[edit]
begin
Anagrams[edit]
Volapük[edit]
Noun[edit]
begin (plural begins)
Declension[edit]
declension of begin
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
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- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
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- English transitive verbs
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