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being - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Originated 1250–1300 from Middle English being; see be + -ing.

being

  1. present participle and gerund of be

being (countable and uncountable, plural beings)

  1. A living creature.
  2. The state or fact of existence, consciousness, or life, or something in such a state.
    • 1608-1634, John Webster (and perhaps Thomas Heywood), Appius and Virginia
      Claudius, thou / Wast follower of his fortunes in his being.

    • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

      For the service to be considered was not the service of one servant, but of two servants, and even of three servants, and even of an infinity of servants, of whom the first could not out till the second up, nor the second up till the third in, nor the third in till the first out, nor the first out till the third in, nor the third in till the second up, nor the second up till the first out, every going, every being, every coming consisting with a being and a coming, a coming and a going, a going and a being, nay with all the beings and all the comings, with all the comings and all the goings, with all the goings and all the beings, of all the servants that had ever served Mr. Knott, of all the servants that ever would serve Mr. Knott.

    • 2019 November 12, Gal Koplewitz, “Amos Oz and the Politics of the Hebrew Language”, in The New Yorker‎[3]:

      The written word, he often argued, could only ever be a low-fidelity reproduction of the fullness of being; any text was ultimately humbled by the reality that it sought to represent.

  3. (philosophy) That which has actuality (materially or in concept).
  4. (philosophy) One's basic nature, or the qualities thereof; essence or personality.
  5. (obsolete) An abode; a cottage.

a living creature

the state or fact of existence

basic nature

being

  1. Given that; since.
    • , New York Review Books 2001, p.280:
      ’Tis a hard matter therefore to confine them, being they are so various and many […].

From Scots bink[1]

being f (dative singular being or beingidh, genitive singular beinge, plural beingean)

  1. bench, form
    Synonym: furm
  2. bedside, front board of a bed
  • Alternative dative singular: beingidh (Southern Hebridean)
  • Alternative genitive singular: beingeadh (Southern Hebridean, Skye)
  1. ^ MacBain, Alexander; Mackay, Eneas (1911), “beince, being”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎[1], Stirling, →ISBN
  2. ^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1940), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. I: The dialects of the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, page 39
  3. ^ Oftedal, M. (1956), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
  4. ^ John MacPherson (1945) The Gaelic dialect of North Uist (Thesis)‎[2], Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, page 92
  5. ^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1937), The dialect of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
  6. ^ Holmer, Nils M. (1938), Studies on Argyllshire Gaelic, Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells boktryckeri-A.-B., page 127