be

Etymology 1

From Middle English been (“to be”). further etymology of be and its conjugationed 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 *bʰúHt (“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”), from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti, from the root *h₁es-.

verb

1. (intransitive, now usually literary) To exist; to have real existence, to be alive.
   The Universe has no explanation: it just is.
   There is surely a peece of Divinity in us, something that was before the Elements, and owes no homage unto the Sun. 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II.2, link
   And after this death there is to be no resurrection. The old man of sin has ceased to be; once crucified, he lives no more. The death is utter; the end complete. 1893, Andrew Martin Fairbairn, Christ in the Centuries, and Other Sermons, 2nd edition, volume 12, E.P. Dutton & Company, page 116
   This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies! 1969-12-07, Monty Python, “Full Frontal Nudity, Dead Parrot sketch”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese)
   The genial hotel manager of the past is no more. Now owner of a trucking concern and living in Belgium, Rusesabagina says the horrors he witnessed in Rwanda "made me a different man." 13 December 2004, Richard Schickel, “Not Just an African Story”, in Time
2. (with there, or dialectally it, as dummy subject) 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.
   "There has been lots of commentary on who is staying and who is staying out and this weekend will be the real test," said one senior media buying agency executive who has pulled the advertising for one major client. 6 July 2011, Mark Sweney, The Guardian
3. (intransitive) To occupy a place.
   The cup is on the table.
4. (intransitive) To occur, to take place.
   When will the meeting be?
5. (intransitive, in perfect tenses) 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.
   They have been through a great deal of trouble.
6. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject and object are the same.
   Knowledge is bliss.
   Hi, I’m Jim.
7. (copulative, mathematics) Used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same.
   3 times 5 is fifteen.
8. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject is an instance of the predicate nominal.
   A dog is an animal.
   Dogs are animals.
9. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject plays the role of the predicate nominal.
   François Mitterrand was president of France from 1981 to 1995.
10. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by an adjective.
    The sky is blue.
    Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)
11. (copulative) Used to indicate that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase.
    The sky is a deep blue today.
12. (auxiliary) Used to form the passive voice.
    The dog was saved by the boy.
    Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast. 1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, page 13
13. (auxiliary) Used to form the continuous aspect.
    The woman is walking.
    I shall be writing to you soon.
    We liked to chat while we were eating.
    In the possibility of radio uses of a constructed language — and such experiments are proving successful—vast sums of money and untold social forces may be involved. 1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, page 13
14. (auxiliary) Used to form the perfect aspect with certain intransitive or copulative verbs; this was more common in archaic use, especially with verbs indicating motion. "He is finished", and "He is gone" are common, but "He is come" is archaic.
    ‘I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come,’ she said. 1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel, ll.67-68
    He is not here; for he is risen […]. Matthew 28:6 (various translations, from the King James Version of 1611 to Revised Version of 1881)
    The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning; 1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems XXV, l.13, page 51
    I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, he takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another. 1965, J. Robert Oppenheimer, The Decision to Drop the Bomb
    His origins are become remote as is his destiny and not again in all the world’s turning will there be terrains so wild and barbarous to try whether the stuff of creation may be shaped to man’s will or whether his own heart is not another kind of clay. 1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, page 4
15. (formal, auxiliary) Used to express relative future action, particularly what is due to, intended to, or should happen.
    I am to leave tomorrow. They are to stay here until I return. They are not to be blamed. How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse? They were to have been married overseas but COVID forced a change of plans.
16. (copulative) 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.
17. (copulative, with a cardinal numeral) Used to state the age of a subject in years.
    I’m 20 (years old).
18. (with a dummy subject it) 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.
19. (With since) 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.
20. (rare and regional, chiefly in the past tense) Used to link two noun clauses, the first of which is a day of the week, recurring date, month, or other specific time (on which the event of the main clause took place), and the second of which is 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.
    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. 1770, Historical Memoirs of the Irish Rebellion, in the year 1641 […] In a letter to Walter Harris, Esq; [By John Curry.] The fourth edition, with corrections throughout the whole, and large additions, by the author, Ireland, page 186
    That they were present at the Election in August was Twelvemonth, at which there was the strictest Scrutiny that ever they saw in their Lives, by all the Four Candidates. 1803, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Journals of the House of Commons, page 249
    'Twas there to-morrow is a week. 1895, Miss M. E. Rope of Suffolk, quoted by Joseph Wright, in The English Dialect Dictionary, page 202
    I killed my poor father, Tuesday was a week, for doing the like of that. 1907, John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World, I, page 20
    Theobald Green gent dead in the Marshalsea in August was twelvemonth John Grey gent delivered out of the Marshalsea about August last by Mr. Secretary and remains in St. Mary Overies. John Jacob gent delivered out of the Marsh. the XVII of May was twelvemonth and sent to Bridewell by order of the Council. 1920 (published), St. George Kieran Hyland, A Century of Persecution Under Tudor and Stuart Sovereigns from Contemporary Records, London, Paul, page 402, quoting an earlier document, Loosley volume 5, no. 28, "List of Prisoners: In Sir W. More's handwriting":
21. (often impersonal, with it as a dummy subject) Used to indicate weather, air quality, or the like.
    It is hot in Arizona, but it is not usually humid.
    Why is it so dark in here?
22. (dynamic / lexical "be", especially in progressive tenses, conjugated non-suppletively in the present tense, see usage notes) To exist or behave in a certain way.
    When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. 2006 October 9, Kristin Newman (writer), Barney Stinson (character), How I Met Your Mother, season 2, episode 1
    "What do we do?" "We be ourselves."
    When I play fantasy games, I always be a gnome.
    Why is he being nice to me?
23. (African-American Vernacular, Caribbean, Ireland, auxiliary, not conjugated) 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 2020, Moneybagg Yo, Thug Cry

Etymology 2

A variant of by which goes back to Middle English be (variant of Middle English bi).

prep

1. (dialectal, possibly dated) Alternative 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. 1851, Oliver Ormerod, Felley fro Rachde
   Go thy way vorth be tha vootsteps uv tha vlock. 1860, Henry Baird, The Song of Solomon in the Devonshire Dialect, i 8
   Aw teuk me seat be day an' neet. 1870, Joseph Philip Robson, Evangeline: The Spirit of Progress, section 332
   Fetchin' it yan... be a round about rooad. 1870, Roger Piketah, Forness Folk, section 44
   Like a leeaf be firm decree / Mun fade an' fall. 1878, John Castillo, Poems in the North Yorkshire Dialect, section 35
   ‘I'll meet you agin to-morra,’ says he, ‘be the chapel-door.’ 1885, Alfred Lord Tennyson, To-morrow

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Russian бэ (bɛ).

noun

1. The name of the Cyrillic script letter Б / б.