BEGINNING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Beginning

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/bɪgˈɪnɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Begin v. t.

1.

(past & past part. began, begun; pres. part. beginning) To enter on; to commence. "Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song."

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."

Synonyms: To commence; originate; set about; start.

Begin v. i. (past & past part. began, begun; pres. part. beginning)

1.

To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence. "Vast chain of being! which from God began."

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." "When I begin, I will also make an end."

noun

Beginning n.

1.

The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

2.

That which begins or originates something; the first cause; origin; source. " I am... the beginning and the ending."

3.

That which is begun; a rudiment or element. "Mighty things from small beginnings grow."

4.

Enterprise. "To hinder our beginnings."

Synonyms: Inception; prelude; opening; threshold; origin; outset; foundation.

See images of 'Beginning'

Etymology of 'Beginning'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Beginning" Quotes from Famous Books

... back his shoulders and resolutely faced west toward the river, but stopped short in horror as he heard the sudden cacophony of barks, yelps and howls of a pack of bloodhounds that senses the beginning of the end. He turned in panic. They couldn't be over half a mile away. In a panic of indecision he turned first east then west, then facing due south he hesitated a moment to take one last look at the clear open skies, and with a muffled prayer ...

— Faithfully Yours • Lou Tabakow

... castles or the mezzanino of the Italian palaces. But the austere aspect of the shut-up "best parlor" of our grandfathers, with its closed blinds and chilly chintz covers, showed that the tables were beginning to turn, and the household to assert its rights and civilly to pay off the guest for his usurpations. Henceforth he is welcome, but he is secondary; it was not for him that the house was built; and if it comes to choosing, ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 60, October 1862 • Various

... collection than the first. One could easily start a phrase with any of these, even with any two of them such as If it, Is in, Is it, It is. [] is then the symbol of i, and some one of the above named combinations forms the beginning of the short phrase ending with a word of three ...

— The Mayor's Wife • Anna Katharine Green

... Bay.] The government of Massachusetts is descended from the Dorchester Company formed in England in 1623, for the ostensible purpose of trading in furs and timber and catching fish on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. After a disastrous beginning this company was dissolved, but only to be immediately reorganized on a greater scale. In 1628 a grant of the land between the Charles and Merrimack rivers was obtained from the Plymouth Company; and in 1629 a charter was ...

— Civil Government in the United States Considered with - Some Reference to Its Origins • John Fiske

... torrent round little rocky islands, or rushed madly down a chute. About half-way up there was an abrupt, right angle bend in the river, and, standing at the bend looking northward, you could see through the screen of spruce on the islands, high above you and half a mile away, the beginning of the river's wild mile race, as it took the first flying leap out over a ...

— A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador • Mina Benson Hubbard (Mrs. Leonidas Hubbard, Junior)

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