To be contents his natural desire. --Pope.
To be, or not to be: that is the question. --Shak.
2. To exist in a certain manner or relation, -- whether as a
reality or as a product of thought; to exist as the
subject of a certain predicate, that is, as having a
certain attribute, or as belonging to a certain sort, or
as identical with what is specified, -- a word or words
for the predicate being annexed; as, to be happy; to be
here; to be large, or strong; to be an animal; to be a
hero; to be a nonentity; three and two are five;
annihilation is the cessation of existence; that is the
man.
3. To take place; to happen; as, the meeting was on Thursday.
4. To signify; to represent or symbolize; to answer to.
The field is the world. --Matt. xiii.
38.
The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the
seven churches. --Rev. i. 20.
Note: The verb to be (including the forms is, was, etc.) is
used in forming the passive voice of other verbs; as,
John has been struck by James. It is also used with the
past participle of many intransitive verbs to express a
state of the subject. But have is now more commonly
used as the auxiliary, though expressing a different
sense; as, ``Ye have come too late -- but ye are come.
'' ``The minstrel boy to the war is gone.'' The present
and imperfect tenses form, with the infinitive, a
particular future tense, which expresses necessity,
duty, or purpose; as, government is to be supported; we
are to pay our just debts; the deed is to be signed
to-morrow.
Note: Have or had been, followed by to, implies movement. ``I
have been to Paris.'' --Sydney Smith. ``Have you been
to Franchard ?'' --R. L. Stevenson.
Note: Been, or ben, was anciently the plural of the
indicative present. ``Ye ben light of the world.''
--Wyclif, Matt. v. 14. Afterwards be was used, as in
our Bible: ``They that be with us are more than they
that be with them.'' --2 Kings vi. 16. Ben was also the
old infinitive: ``To ben of such power.'' --R. of
Gloucester. Be is used as a form of the present
subjunctive: ``But if it be a question of words and
names.'' --Acts xviii. 15. But the indicative forms, is
and are, with if, are more commonly used.
{Be it so}, a phrase of supposition, equivalent to suppose it
to be so; or of permission, signifying let it be so.
--Shak.
{If so be}, in case.
{To be from}, to have come from; as, from what place are you
? I am from Chicago.
{To let be}, to omit, or leave untouched; to let alone. ``Let
be, therefore, my vengeance to dissuade.'' --Spenser.
Usage: The verb to be, except in a few rare case, like that
of Shakespeare's ``To be, or not to be'', is used
simply as a copula, to connect a subject with its
predicate; as, man is mortal; the soul is immortal.
The verb to exist is never properly used as a mere
copula, but points to things that stand forth, or have
a substantive being; as, when the soul is freed from
all corporeal alliance, then it truly exists. It is
not, therefore, properly synonymous with to be when
used as a copula, though occasionally made so by some
writers for the sake of variety; as in the phrase
``there exists [is] no reason for laying new taxes.''
We may, indeed, say, ``a friendship has long existed
between them,'' instead of saying, ``there has long
been a friendship between them;'' but in this case,
exist is not a mere copula. It is used in its
appropriate sense to mark the friendship as having
been long in existence.
Assembled been a senate grave and stout. --Fairfax.