Beghard
(Be*ghard" Be*guard") n. [F. bégard, béguard; cf. G. beghard, LL. Beghardus, Begihardus,
Begardus. Prob. from the root of beguine + -ard or -hard. See Beguine.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of an
association of religious laymen living in imitation of the Beguines. They arose in the thirteenth century,
were afterward subjected to much persecution, and were suppressed by Innocent X. in 1650. Called
also Beguins.
Begild
(Be*gild") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Begilded or Begilt ] To gild. B. Jonson.
Begin
(Be*gin") 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. &radic31. 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.
Begin
(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.
Begin
(Be*gin"), n. Beginning. [Poetic & Obs.] Spenser.
Beginner
(Be*gin"ner) n. One who begins or originates anything. Specifically: A young or inexperienced
practitioner or student; a tyro.
A sermon of a new beginner.
Swift.
Beginning
(Be*gin"ning) n.
1. The act of doing that which begins anything; commencement of an action, state, or space of time; entrance
into being or upon a course; the first act, effort, or state of a succession of acts or states.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen. i. 1.
2. That which begins or originates something; the first cause; origin; source.
I am . . . the beginning and the ending.
Rev. i. 8.
3. That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
Mighty things from small beginnings grow.
Dryden.
4. Enterprise. "To hinder our beginnings." Shak.
