Begin n : Israeli statesman (born in Russia) who (as prime minister of Israel) negotiated a peace treaty with Anwar Sadat (then the president of Egypt) (1913-1992) [syn: Menachem Begin]

1 take the first step or steps in carrying out an action; "We began working at dawn"; "Who will start?"; "Get working as soon as the sun rises!"; "The first tourists began to arrive in Cambodia"; "He began early in the day"; "Let's get down to work now" [syn: get down, get, start out, start, set about, set out, commence] [ant: end]

2 have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense; "The DMZ begins right over the hill"; "The second movement begins after the Allegro"; "Prices for these homes start at $250,000" [syn: start] [ant: end]

3 set in motion, cause to start; "The U.S. started a war in the Middle East"; "The Iraqis began hostilities"; "begin a new chapter in your life" [syn: lead off, start, commence] [ant: end]

4 begin to speak or say; "Now listen, friends," he began

5 be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series; "The number 'one' begins the sequence"; "A terrible murder begins the novel"; "The convocation ceremoney officially begins the semester"

6 have a beginning, of a temporal event; "WWII began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland"; "The company's Asia tour begins next month"

7 have a beginning characterized in some specified way; "The novel begins with a murder"; "My property begins with the three maple trees"; "Her day begins with a work-out"; "The semester begins with a convocation ceremony" [syn: start]

8 begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object; "begin a cigar"; "She started the soup while it was still hot"; "We started physics in 10th grade" [syn: start]

9 achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative; "This economic measure doesn't even begin to deal with the problem of inflation"; "You cannot even begin to understand the problem we had to deal with during the war"

10 begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language; "She began Russian at an early age"; "We started French in fourth grade"

English

Etymology

beginnan, from a root apparently meaning ‘open up’; for the sense development, consider English ‘open fire’, ‘to open proceedings’, ‘opening ceremony’ etc.

Pronunciation

• /bɪˈgɪn/

Verb

1. To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.

Related terms

• beginning noun

Translations

References

Century 1911}}

Dutch

Pronunciation

Begin may refer to:

• Menachem Begin, the 6th Prime Minister of Israel
• Benny Begin, his son and a politician in his own right
• Johanne Begin, a Canadian water polo player
• Steve Bégin, a Canadian professional hockey player
• Louis Nazaire Bégin, a Canadian priest
• Begin (computer game)
• Begin (album), the sole album by the late-60s group The Millennium
• Begin (band) (ビギン), a three-man pop group from Ishigaki Island (石垣島), Okinawa, Japan
• begin, a Riyu Kosaka album
• Begin, a keyword in Pascal and other programming languages

arise, attack, blast away, blast off, broach, commence, create, dig in, dive in, embark, enter, enter on, enter upon, establish, fall to, found, get off, get to, go ahead, go into, head into, inaugurate, initiate, institute, introduce, jump off, kick off, launch, lead off, open, originate, pitch in, plunge into, prepare, send off, set about, set in, set out, set sail, set to, set up, spring, start, start in, start off, start out, tackle, take off, take up, turn to, usher in