Hypertext Webster Gateway: "beginning"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Begin \Be*gin"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Began}, {Begun}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Beginning}.] [AS. beginnan (akin to OS. biginnan, D.
& G. beginnen, OHG. biginnan, Goth., du-ginnan, Sw. begynna,
Dan. begynde); pref. be- + an assumed ginnan. [root]31. See
{Gin} to begin.]
1. To have or commence an independent or first existence; to
take rise; to commence.
Vast chain of being! which from God began. --Pope.
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.'' --Dryden.
When I begin, I will also make an end. --1 Sam. iii.
12.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Beginning \Be*gin"ning\, 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. --Gen. i. 1.
2. That which begins or originates something; the first
cause; origin; source.
I am . . . the beginning and the ending. --Rev. i.
8.
3. That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
Mighty things from small beginnings grow. --Dryden.
4. Enterprise. ``To hinder our beginnings.'' --Shak.
Syn: Inception; prelude; opening; threshold; origin; outset;
foundation.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
beginning
adj 1: at a first stage of development; just becoming familiar with
the rudiments or skills or routines; "a beginning
bodybuilder"; "a beginning reader"; "a novice cook"
[syn: {beginning(a)}, {novice(a)}]
2: serving to begin; "the beginning canto of the poem"; "the
first verse" [syn: {beginning(a)}, {first}]
n 1: the event consisting of the start of something: "the
beginning of the war" [ant: {ending}]
2: the time at which something begins; "They got an early
start" [syn: {commencement}, {first}, {outset}, {start}, {kickoff},
{starting time}, {offset}] [ant: {middle}, {end}]
3: the first part or section of something: "`It was a dark and
stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story" [ant:
{middle}, {end}]
4: the place where something begins, where it springs into
being; "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance";
"Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is
the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root"
[syn: {origin}, {root}, {rootage}, {source}]
5: the act of starting something; "he was responsible for the
beginning of negotiations" [syn: {start}, {commencement}]
[ant: {finish}]
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