Citations:be

See also: Citations:BE

English citations of be

Verb

1827, Antonio Vieyra, A Portuguese grammar: with the Portuguese words properly accented according to the lastest and best authorities., Printed for J. Collingwood, page 45:
The auxiliary verbs are so called, because they aid the conjugation of other verbs. They are four in Portuguese, viz havêr, têr, to have; sêr, estár, to be.

Verb: to exist

c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet:
To be or not to be, that is the question.
2000, João Costa, Portuguese syntax: new comparative studies, illustrated edition, Oxford University Press US, →ISBN, page 65:
Portuguese, however, is slightly different from Catalan, Spanish, and Romanian in that there is no strict adjacency requirement between wh-words and the verbal cluster in indirect questions.
2003, Amélia P. Hutchinson, Janet Lloyd, Portuguese: an essential grammar, 2nd illustrated edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 206:
There are some pronunciation and spelling variations among European Portuguese, Brazilian and even African Portuguese.
2005, Steve Bourie, American Casino Guide, Casino Vacations Press, →ISBN, page 92:
When deciding how to play your hand there are also three other options available to you besides standing or hitting. The first is called doubling down and most casinos will allow a player to double their bet on their first two cards and draw only one more card.

Verb: to exist, modifiable by adverbs

1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew 2:
Rachel wepynge ffor her chyldren, and wolde nott be comforted because they were not.

2014, Allan Bäck, Aristotle's Theory of Abstraction, Springer (→ISBN), page 209:
[Aristotle says] that everything that exists is either a substance or an accident that depends for its existence on a substance's providing a substratum in which it may be. [...] Indeed, Aristotle claims that in the strict sense no item in an accidental category is:
[...] Therefore that which is primarily and is simply (not is something) must be substance. [Metaph. 1028a20–31]

Only an individual substance, like Socrates, is or exists strictly, without qualification.

Verb: forms the passive voice

1827, Antonio Vieyra, A Portuguese grammar: with the Portuguese words properly accented according to the lastest and best authorities., Printed for J. Collingwood, page 45:
The auxiliary verbs are so called, because they aid the conjugation of other verbs. They are four in Portuguese, viz havêr, têr, to have; sêr, estár, to be.
1934 October, “Esperanto — A Tongue All Men Can Easily Learn”, in The Rotarian, volume 45, Rotary International, →ISSN, page 48:
Furthermore, by learning difficult foreign languages, the pupil is overburdened in contrast to the ease with which he could acquire Esperanto.
1991, Tom E. Kakonis, Double down: Tom Kakonis‎^[1], Dutton, →ISBN, page 217:
Somewhat relutanctly, Caroline pushed her second stack out alongside the first and said "Double down" and another ace was laid on her hand.
1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, →ISBN, page 13:
Study courses of Esperanto and Ido have been broadcast.
2005, Mike Turner, Bootlegger's 200 proof blackjack, Square One Publishers, →ISBN, page 3:
He knows to handle double-down opportunities and what to do with hands that should be split.
2005, Steve Bourie, American Casino Guide, Casino Vacations Press, →ISBN, page 92:
When deciding how to play your hand there are also three other options available to you besides standing or hitting. The first is called doubling down and most casinos will allow a player to double their bet on their first two cards and draw only one more card.
2007, Colin R. Bruce, Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000, 35, illustrated edition, F+W Media, →ISBN, page 19:
Coins of Thailand (Slam) are found dated by three different eras. The most predominant is the Buddhist Era (BE), which originated in 534 BC.
2008, Helen Fryer, The Esperanto Teacher, BiblioBazaar, LLC, →ISBN, page 13:
In Esperanto each letter has only one sound, and each sound is represented in only one way. The words are pronounced exactly as spelt, every letter being sounded.
2008, Wikipedia contributors, “Music history of Portugal”, in English Wikipedia‎^[2], Wikimedia Foundation:
Luiz de Freitas Branco (1890-1955) is usually appointed as the «introducer of modernism in Portugal», by his decisive role in the approximation of Portuguese music to the most innovative European aesthetics, namely the Schönberg atonalism and the French impressionism.

Verb: forms continuous tenses

1995, C. K. Ogden, Psyche: An Annual General and Linguistic Psychology 1920-1952, C. K. Ogden, →ISBN, page 13:
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.

Verb: connects a noun to an adjective that describes it

1966, Alexander R. Prista, Essential Portuguese grammar, Courier Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 6:
It will help you to expand your Portuguese vocabulary if you remember that many Portuguese words are similar in meaning and appearance to English words.
1990, Ellen Israel Rosen, Bitter Choices: Blue-Collar Women in and Out of Work, reprint, illustrated edition, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 80:
[...] with a good deal of prejudice that was in part motivated by the fear that the Portuguese women might take their jobs.
2000, João Costa, Portuguese syntax: new comparative studies, illustrated edition, Oxford University Press US, →ISBN, page 65:
Portuguese, however, is slightly different from Catalan, Spanish, and Romanian in that there is no strict adjacency requirement between wh-words and the verbal cluster in indirect questions.
2007, Colin R. Bruce, Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000, 35, illustrated edition, F+W Media, →ISBN, page 19:
Coins of Thailand (Slam) are found dated by three different eras. The most predominant is the Buddhist Era (BE), which originated in 534 BC.

Verb: indicates that the subject has the qualities described by a noun or noun phrase

1827, Antonio Vieyra, A Portuguese grammar: with the Portuguese words properly accented according to the lastest and best authorities., Printed for J. Collingwood, page 45:
The auxiliary verbs are so called, because they aid the conjugation of other verbs. They are four in Portuguese, viz havêr, têr, to have; sêr, estár, to be.
1966, George Alan Connor, Esperanto, the world interlanguage‎^[3], T. Yoseloff, page 116:
A helpful booklet for philatelists is the Filatela terminaro, by Herbert M. Scott, 3rd edition published by the Universal Esperanto Association in 1945.
2004, Steven Roger Fischer, A history of language, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 180:
The first practical constructed language was the south-west German Pastor Schleyer's Volapük from 1879; its complicated grammar and irregular vocabulary made learning difficult, however. The most successful has been Esperanto, devised by the Warsaw ophthalmologist Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887, that today can count some one million speakers.
2004, Steven Roger Fischer, A history of language, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 180:
The first practical constructed language was the south-west German Pastor Schleyer's Volapük from 1879; its complicated grammar and irregular vocabulary made learning difficult, however. The most successful has been Esperanto, devised by the Warsaw ophthalmologist Ludwig Zamenhof in 1887, that today can count some one million speakers.
2005, Steve Bourie, American Casino Guide, Casino Vacations Press, →ISBN, page 7:
This is your best casino game, but you must learn how to play your hands (when to hit, stand, double-down, split, etc.)
2008, Geoffrey Sutton, Concise Encyclopedia of the Original Literature of Esperanto, Mondial, →ISBN, page 572:
For him Esperanto is principally a language of poetry, which he uses to express his feelings and thoughts.

Verb: forms the perfect aspect

1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Blessed Damozel, lines 67-68
‘I wish that he were come to me, / For he will come,’ she said.
1922, A. E. Housman, Last Poems XXV, line 13
The King with half the East at heel is marched from lands of morning;

Verb: linking times

1892, Great Britain. Public Record Office, East Indies and Persia, 1630, page 287 (quoting a paper from 1632?):
Complaint of Mr. Smethwicke that he went to the Secretary's office to see the order which appoints every Wednesday to debate the serious business of the Company, but found the Courts not registered since August was twelvemonth.

Verb: pertaining to times

2012, Robert Moore, Where the Gold is Buried, a legend of Old Fort Niagara (→ISBN), page 137:
"It's not two weeks yet," I reminded her, hoping that might somehow cheer her. [...] "Tomorrow is two weeks," Ruth said in a distant voice, staring into the flames.
2018, Janet Knox, Patty and Jo, Detectives: The Case of the Toy Drummer, Wildside Press LLC (→ISBN), page 13:
Thinking out loud, she said, “Tomorrow is a week since we've been here, the date is the twentieth of June, what's so special about—June twentieth! Holy cow, it's our birthday!”

Verb: imperative uses

1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[4]:
Actually, for the last half-hour I had scarcely thought of Leo, and this, be it remembered, of the man who for twenty years had been my dearest companion, and the chief interest of my existence.
1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[5]:
"Nay, the men must die; and die as I have said." Then, suddenly turning to the captain of the guard: - "As my word is, so be it!"

Verb: subjunctive uses

1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[6]:
`I thank thee, oh Ayesha,' I replied, with as much dignity as I could command, `but if there be such a place as thou dost describe, and if in this strange place there may be found a fiery virtue that can hold off Death when he comes to pluck us by the hand, yet would I none of it.'

Unsorted

1853, The United Presbyterian Magazine, page 361:
[…] he will be some time in the colony before he hears anything of me. A gold-digging life is one of frequent shifting , sometimes for one reason, sometimes for another, sometimes for want of water, sometimes from an inferior to a […]

Old French citations of be

Adjective, bay (color)?

c. 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
Chevaliers i ot bien cinc çanz
Sor chevaus bes, sors et bauçanz.
There were at least five hundred knights
On horses bay,[?] and pied