Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Begin

Be·gin′ (bē·gĭn′), 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. √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.

Be·gin′, v. t. 1. To enter on; to commence.

Ye nymphs of Solyma ! begin the song. Pope.

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. Locke.

Syn. — To commence; originate; set about; start.

Be·gin′, n. Beginning. [Poetic & Obs.] Spenser.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.