be
verbprepositionnountop 100 in film dialogue
- //ˈbiː//
- /[ˈbɪi̯]/
- //ˈbɪ//
- //bi//
- //bə//
- //beɪ//
As an auxiliary verb: Used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.
verb
- 1
As an auxiliary verb: Used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.
The dog was saved by the boy.
Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.
- 2
As an auxiliary verb: Used with present participles of verbs to form the continuous aspect.
The woman is walking.
I shall be writing to you soon.
We liked to chat while we were eating.
I can't always be catering to your whimsies.
- 3
As an auxiliary verb: Used with to-infinitives of verbs to express intent, obligation, appropriateness, or relative future occurrence.
I am to leave tomorrow.
They are to stay here until I return.
I'd been to've been ambassador, but fell seriously ill.
How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse?
- 4
As an auxiliary verb: Used with past participles of certain intransitive verbs to form the perfect aspect.
He is finished.
He is gone.
He is come.
They are not yet come back.
- 5
As an auxiliary verb: To tend to do, often do; marks the habitual aspect.
1996, David Sheffield, Barry W. Blaustein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk, screenplay of The Nutty Professor Women be shoppin’! You cannot stop a woman from shoppin’!
Niggas be tellin' these bitches 'bout business
I be fingering my pussy till my fingers turn soggy; Yeah, I love masturbation; that’s my favorite fucking hobby; I be spitting on my pussy; yeah, I gotta keep it soppy; I be gooning out in public; ain’t nobody gonna stop me.
- 6
As a copulative verb: To exist.
There is just one woman in town who can help us.
(or, dialectally:) It is just one woman in town who can help us.
Some men there are loue not a gaping Pigge: / Some that are mad, if they behold a Cat: / And others, when the bag-pipe sings i’th nose, / Cannot containe their Vrine for affection.
"There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known even in a crowd, and this you had."
- 7
As a copulative verb: Used to declare the subject and object identical or equivalent.
Hi, I’m Jim.
3 times 5 is fifteen.
These four are the ones going to the quarter-finals.
François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.
- 8
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate that a predicate nominal applies to the subject.
Rex is a dog.
A dog is an animal.
Dogs are animals.
- 9
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective or prepositional phrase.
The sky is blue.
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remooue this cup from me: neuerthelesse, not my will, but thine be done.
- 10
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.
The sky is a deep blue today.
- 11
As a copulative verb: Used to link a subject to a measurement.
This building is three hundred years old.
I am 75 kilograms.
He’s about 6 feet tall.
- 12
As a copulative verb: Used to state the age of a subject in years.
I’m 20 (years old).
- 13
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate the time of day.
It is almost eight (o’clock).
It’s 8:30 [read eight-thirty] in Tokyo.
What time is it there? It’s night.
- 14
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate passage of time since the occurrence of an event.
It has been three years since my grandmother died. (similar to "My grandmother died three years ago", but emphasizes the intervening period)
It had been six days since his departure, when I received a letter from him.
- 15
rareAs a copulative verb: Used to link two noun clauses: a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place) and a period of time indicating how long ago that day was.
I saw her Monday was a week: I saw her a week ago last Monday (a week before last Monday).
On the morning of Sunday was fortnight before Christmas: on the morning of the Sunday that was two weeks before the Sunday prior to Christmas.
Miss Lardner (whom you have seen at her cousin Biddulph's) saw you at St James's church on Sunday was fortnight.
And so, without as much as to return home to furnish myself for such a journey, volens, nolens, they prevailed, or rather forced me to come to Dublin to confer with those colonels, and that was the last August was twelvemonth.
- 16
As a copulative verb: To pass or spend (time).
and when he compares both sides, he will be some time at a loss to fix any determination.
The bag was crisp with ice, and with my fingerless gloves I was a bit of time unholing the buttons. But I got the flap turned back at last, and there was Ryan grey-faced and stark.
- 17
As a copulative verb: To take a period of time.
Dinner will be ten minutes.
It was an hour before he returned.
- 18
As a copulative verb: Used to indicate ambient conditions such as weather, light, noise or air quality.
It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid.
Why is it so dark in here?
- 19
As a copulative verb: To exist or behave in a certain way.
When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead.
"What do we do?" "We be ourselves."
Just be yourself.
Why is he being nice to me?
- 20
As an intransitive lexical verb: To exist; to have real existence, to be alive.
The Universe has no explanation: it just is.
That was the week that was.
This is something that was meant to be.
Rachel wepynge ffor her chyldren / and wolde nott be comforted becauſe they were not.
- 21
As an intransitive lexical verb: To remain undisturbed in a certain state or situation.
Let them be for a few hours.
Leave us be until the guests arrive.
- 22
As an intransitive lexical verb: To occupy a place.
The cup is on the table.
- 23
As an intransitive lexical verb: To occur, to take place.
When will the meeting be?
- 24
As an intransitive lexical verb: Elliptical form of "be here", "go to and return from" or similar, also extending to certain other senses of "go".
The postman has been today, but my tickets have still not yet come.
I have been to Spain many times.
We've been about twenty miles.
I have terrible constipation – I haven't been for several days.
Etymology
From Middle English been (“to be”). See below for more. Further etymology of be and its conjugated forms The various forms have three separate origins, which were mixed together at various times in the history of English. * The forms beginning with b- come from Old English bēon (“to be, become”), from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, exist, come to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-yé-ti (“to grow, become, come into being, appear”), from the root *bʰuH-. In particular: ** Now-dialectal use of been as an infinitive of be is either from Middle English been (“to be”) or an extension of the past participle. ** Now-obsolete use of been as a plural present tense (meaning "are") is from Middle English been, be (present plural of been (“to be”), with the -n leveled in from the past and subjunctive; compare competing forms aren/are). ** Use of been as a past participle is from Middle English been, ybeen, from Old English ġebēon. * The forms beginning with w- come from the aforementioned Old English bēon, which shared its past tense with the verb wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to reside”). * The remaining forms (am, are, is) are also from Old English wesan (“to be”), Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, the present tense of which comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₁és-ti, from the root *h₁es-.
preposition
- 1
Variant of bydatedAlternative form of by. Also found in compounds, especially oaths, e.g. begorra.
O ful tru un pertikler akeawnt o... th' greyt Eggshibishun. Be o felley fro Rachde.
Go thy way vorth be tha vootsteps uv tha vlock.
Aw teuk me seat be day an' neet.
Fetchin' it yan... be a round about rooad.
Etymology
A variant of by which goes back to Middle English be (variant of Middle English bi).
noun
- 1
The name of the Cyrillic script letter Б / б
Etymology
Borrowed from Russian бэ (bɛ).
Forms
- plural
- bes
- past participle
- been
- present participle
- being
- third person singular
- is, 's, beeth, bes
be · As an auxiliary verb: Used with past participles of verbs to form the passive voice.
be- · By, near, next to, around, close to.Bea · A diminutive of the female given name Beatrice.BEA · Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de…