be : Idioms & Phrases

'T is

Definitions

1. A common contraction of it is.

Webster 1913

'T was

Definitions

1. A contraction of it was.

Webster 1913

• all that he has anything to do with is a source of profit. Colloq.

Webster 1913

• noun a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
  brute; beast; animal; fauna; creature.
  

WordNet

• adverb in the actual state of affairs and often contrary to expectations; as it is he was severely injured"
  
  • he might have been killed

WordNet

• adverb as if it were really so
  so to speak.
  
  • she lives here, as it were

WordNet

• (as if it were), a qualifying phrase used to apologize for or to relieve some expression which might be regarded as inappropriate or incongruous; in a manner.

Webster 1913

• verb be in a state of action
  move.
  
  • she is always moving

WordNet

• verb be in motion due to some air or water current
  blow; float; drift.
  
  • The leaves were blowing in the wind
  • the boat drifted on the lake
  • The sailboat was adrift on the open sea
  • the shipwrecked boat drifted away from the shore

WordNet

• verb have the will and intention to carry out some action
  plan.
  
  • He plans to be in graduate school next year
  • The rebels had planned turmoil and confusion

WordNet

• noun the essential factor; the all-important element; the supreme aim
  be all and end all.
  
  • profit is the be-all and end-all of business

WordNet

• verb interpret in the wrong way
  misinterpret; misunderstand; misconceive; misconstrue; misapprehend.
  
  • Don't misinterpret my comments as criticism
  • She misconstrued my remarks

WordNet

• verb try very hard to do something
  take pains.
  

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• verb come into existence through birth
  
  • She was born on a farm

WordNet

• verb be the result of
  flow from.
  

WordNet

• verb be sated, have enough to eat
  
  • I'm full--don't give me any more beans, please

WordNet

• verb have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined
  run; incline; lean; tend.
  
  • She tends to be nervous before her lectures
  • These dresses run small
  • He inclined to corpulence

WordNet

• verb have sexual intercourse with
  love; fuck; sleep with; have it away; screw; have intercourse; get it on; lie with; hump; make love; make out; get laid; have a go at it; bonk; eff; have sex; jazz; know; have it off; bang; bed; do it; roll in the hay; sleep together.
  
  • This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm
  • Adam knew Eve
  • Were you ever intimate with this man?

WordNet

• a phrase of supposition, equivalent to suppose it to be so; or of permission, signifying let it be so. Shak.

Webster 1913

• verb appear in a show, on T.V. or radio
  get on.
  
  • The news won't be on tonight

WordNet

• verb feel extreme happiness or elation
  walk on air; exult; jump for joy.
  

WordNet

• verb be well-informed
  know the score; know what's going on; know what's what; be on the ball.
  

WordNet

• verb refuse to talk or stop talking; fall silent
  shut up; close up; belt up; button up; clam up; dummy up; keep mum.
  
  • The children shut up when their father approached

WordNet

• verb eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth
  retch; regorge; disgorge; spew; vomit up; puke; honk; cat; purge; cast; spue; upchuck; vomit; sick; barf; regurgitate; throw up; chuck.
  
  • After drinking too much, the students vomited
  • He purged continuously
  • The patient regurgitated the food we gave him last night

WordNet

• verb be healthy; feel good
  
  • She has not been well lately

WordNet

• verb be well-informed
  know the score; know what's going on; know what's what; be on the ball.
  

WordNet

Be"-all` noun

Definitions

1. The whole; all that is to be. Poetic Shak.

Webster 1913

• noun the essential factor; the all-important element; the supreme aim
  be all and end all.
  
  • profit is the be-all and end-all of business

WordNet

Bes-ant"ler noun

Definitions

1. Same as Bez-antler.

Webster 1913

• noun plant of European origin having pink or white flowers and leaves yielding a detergent when bruised
  hedge pink; soapwort; Saponaria officinalis; bouncing Bet.
  

WordNet

• noun a woman who is engaged to be married
  fiancee.
  

WordNet

• verb have perceptible qualities
  

WordNet

• any portion of the circumference of a circle.

Webster 1913

• verb be born or come into existence
  come to life.
  
  • All these flowers come to life when the rains come

WordNet

• . Same as Ere. Shak.

Webster 1913

• continually; constantly. Obs. Chaucer.

Webster 1913

• noun a form of life assumed to exist outside the Earth or its atmosphere
  alien; extraterrestrial.
  

WordNet

• adverb temporarily
  for the moment.
  
  • we'll stop for the time being

WordNet

• distinctions having reference to the nature or value of the property stolen. They are abolished in England.

Webster 1913

• noun a man who is engaged to be married
  fiance.
  

WordNet

• noun someone who is no longer popular
  back-number.
  

WordNet

• (Card Playing), said when each side has an equal number of honors, in which case they are not counted as points.

Webster 1913

• noun any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage
  human being; homo; human; man.
  

WordNet

• noun all of the living human inhabitants of the earth
  humans; human race; humankind; mankind; world; humanity; man.
  
  • all the world loves a lover
  • she always used `humankind' because `mankind' seemed to slight the women
• noun any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage
  human being; homo; human; man.
  

WordNet

• in case.

Webster 1913

• noun lack of prosperity or happiness or health
  

WordNet

• noun a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction
  imaginary creature.
  

WordNet

Is-

Definitions

1. . See Iso-.

Webster 1913

• it is all over with him; he is lost.

Webster 1913

• it is neither in this place nor in that, neither in one place nor in another; hence, it is to no purpose, irrelevant, nonsense. mostly used to mean "irrelevant" Shak.

Webster 1913

• there is no denying it. Obs.

Webster 1913

• it is probable. Obs. = "odds are" Jer. Taylor.

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• it is reasonable; it is right. Obs.

  Yet it were great reason, that those that have children should have greatest care of future times. Bacon.

Webster 1913

• it is commonly reported; it is rumored; people assert or maintain.

Webster 1913

• let the past be forgotten.

Webster 1913

• are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.

Webster 1913

• noun an event that could have occurred but never did
  

WordNet

• noun an imaginary being of myth or fable
  

WordNet

• adjective satellite as naked as at birth
  in one's birthday suit; in your birthday suit; mother-naked; naked as the day one was born.
  

WordNet

• adjective satellite as naked as at birth
  in one's birthday suit; in your birthday suit; mother-naked; naked as the day one was born.
  

WordNet

• not to be despised or contemned; not to be treated lightly. Colloq. "He had to do with old women who were not to be sneezed at."

Webster 1913

• so be it; amen; a phrase in some rituals, as that of the Freemasons.

Webster 1913

• noun an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events
  spiritual being.
  

WordNet

• noun an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events
  spiritual being.
  

WordNet

• noun the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
  God.
  

WordNet

• verb look on as or consider
  regard as; look upon; think of; esteem; look on; repute.
  
  • she looked on this affair as a joke
  • He thinks of himself as a brilliant musician
  • He is reputed to be intelligent

WordNet

• adverb as follows
  to wit; videlicet; namely; viz..
  

WordNet

• that is; in other words; otherwise.

Webster 1913

• when it is suspended perpendicularly from the cathead, ready to be let go.

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• when the cable is drawn in do tight as to bring to ship directly over it.

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• when it is lifted out of the ground.

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• when it is hove up to the surface of the water.

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• the danger is over; no enemy in sight. Dryden. Fig.: There are no obstacles. "Seeing that the coast was clear, Zelmane dismissed Musidorus." Sir P. Sidney.

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• the hazard must be run; the step is taken, and it is too late to draw back; the last chance is taken.

Webster 1913

• the allotted time is past.

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• noun the present occasion
  nonce.
  
  • for the nonce

WordNet

• . See under Glove.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To be close or near; as, to keep a ship in with the land. (b) To be on terms of friendship, familiarity, or intimacy with; to secure and retain the favor of. Colloq.

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• (Fig.), to be on the same footing; to correspond (with) exactly; to be alike in all the circumstances to be considered. "This example is on all fours with the other." "No simile can go on all fours." Macaulay.

Webster 1913

• etc. (Stock Exchange), to hold stock for a rise in price, or to have a contract under which one can demand stock on or before a certain day at a stipulated price; opposed to short in such phrases as, to be short of stock, to sell short, etc. Cant See Short.

Webster 1913

• to be awake or alive to anything; to be roused; to be eager or alert; as, to be a tiptoe with expectation.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To be wide of the mark; to be at fault; as, you are all abroad in your guess. (b) To be at a loss or nonplused.

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• (often with of or on), to acknowledge; to confess. Obs.

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• to be possessed of personal knowledge of; to be cognizant of; to be more or less familiar with; to be on terms of social intercourse with.

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• to be in pursuit of in order to reach or get; as, he is after money.

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• to acknowledge; to confess. Obs.

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• to be all settled. Colloq. Dickens.

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• to be behind the position given by the reckoning

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• to be in a state of uncertainty.

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• to be stationary or motionless; to be at a standstill; hence, to be perplexed; to be embarrassed.

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• to misunderstand or to act counter to one another without intending it; said of persons.

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• to be conversant or familiar with it.

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• to quarrel; to be at strife.

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• to be in disorder. Bacon. Shak. Swift.

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• to be in a state of quarreling. Obs. Nares.

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• to be very angry.

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• to be the cause or originator of; to be the source of. Usually in an opprobrious sense. J. H. Newman.

  He was at the bottom of many excellent counsels. Addison.

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• to pursue closely; to follow hard: as, hungry want is at my heels. Otway.

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• to be wholly in the power of.

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• to be out ob one's wits or senses.

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• to be in a better condition.

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• to be of princely birth; to be highborn.

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• to be delivered of a child; often followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son.

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• to suffer loss by fire, as the burning of one's house, store, or shop, with the contents.

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• to be in childbed.

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• to die. Obs.

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• to be slovenly or in a poor plight.

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• to dislike and treat harshly. Slang, U.S.

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• to have friendly relations with. "He's . . . friends with Cæsar." Shak.

Webster 1913

• to have come from; as, from what place are you ? I am from Chicago.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To show a brave, unyielding spirit. (b) To be victor in a game. Colloq.

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• to die. Gen. xxv. 8.

Webster 1913

• (with one), to be intimate or familiar (with him). Bacon.

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• to be intimately associated or on good terms with. "Hand and glove with traitors." J. H. Newman.

Webster 1913

• to be in poor condition.

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• to be at home; as, Mrs. A. is in.

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• to be in disagreeable position; to be in a condition of embarrassment, difficulty, or disorder. "How cam'st thou in this pickle?" Shak.

Webster 1913

• to be in an exalted state of mind.

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• to be out of favor, or in bad repute.

Webster 1913

• to be engaged in a secret meeting; said of several, or a considerable number of, persons.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To be in favor of a thing; to be committed to a course. (b) To be unable to escape from a danger, penalty, etc. Colloq.

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• to be in full dress or in one's best clothes. Collog.

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• to be in high spirits. Collog.

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• to be in a state of infancy or dependence, or under the guidance of others.

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• to be intoxicated.

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• to be doing harm or causing annoyance.

Webster 1913

• to be drunk.

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• to be in a state of listlessness ennui, or tedium.

Webster 1913

• to be brought to bed, as a pregnant woman. Slang archaic? Similar is "a roll in the hay"

Webster 1913

• to be in a favored position; to be associated with others in active affairs. Colloq.

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• to be suggested or expected; to be a matter of suspicion or surmise. Colloq.

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• to be in contact, or in sympathy.

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• to receive some good, or to meet with some success, in an unexpected manner, or as the result of circumstances beyond one's control; to be fortunate.

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• . See Had as lief, under Had.

Webster 1913

• to have entire self-control; not to be governed by passion.

Webster 1913

• to be even with; to be equal to. Obs.

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• to have ceased to be; as, Cassius is no more; Troy is no more.

Webster 1913

• to be intimate.

Webster 1913

• to think; to judge.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To depart; to escape; as, he was off without a moment's warning. (b) To be abandoned, as an agreement or purpose; as, the bet was declared to be off. Colloq.

Webster 1913

• to be of a wrong color. to be mildly obscene

Webster 1913

• to have no appetite. (Colloq.)

Webster 1913

• to be insane.

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• to be in a state of disorder or irregularity; to have lost proper adjustment.

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• to be entitled to a support from the proceeds of an endowment, as a scholar or a fellow of a college.

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• to be on one's dignity; to bear one's self loftily. Colloq.

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• to be eager, impatient, or anxious.

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• to be in motion, action, or process of execution.

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• to incline, as a vessel, so much on one side that her beams approach a vertical position.

Webster 1913

• to have small allowance of food. Colloq.

Webster 1913

• to be slightly acquainted.

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• to be in a state of discussion, formation, or preparation, as when a scheme or measure is forming, but not matured.

Webster 1913

• to be under consideration; to be the subject of deliberation; to be in sight; an expression derived from the use of carpets as table cover.

Webster 1913

• to be or stand in a state or posture of defense or resistance, in opposition to aggression or attack.

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• to be undecided or uncommitted in respect to two opposing parties or policies. Colloq.

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• to be convalescent or improving.

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• to bustle or stir about. Colloq.

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• to be on guard; to be watchful and alert, like a sentinel.

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• to suffer torture, physical or mental.

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• to be obliged to use one's utmost powers.

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• to be on the stretch; to be in distress, uneasiness, or suspense. Hudibras.

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• to be looking steadily for some event.

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• to be closely united as in marriage; to become as one person. Gen. ii. 24.

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• to have command of one's self; not to be subject to another.

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• to be at liberty to act as one chooses without dictation from anybody.

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• to be exempt from control by another person.

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• to be helpless .

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• to have on stockings that are worn out; hence, to be shabby, or in a poor plight. Shak.

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• to be at a distance from the place indicated by the reckoning; said of a ship.

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• to be temporarily insane.

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• to have complacency in; to take pleasure in.

Webster 1913

• to take pleasure in doing it; to have the will to do it; to think proper to do it.

Webster 1913

• adverb in actual fact
  properly speaking; strictly speaking.
  
  • properly speaking, they are not husband and wife

WordNet

• to be spoken of; to be mentioned, whether favorably or unfavorably. Acts xvi. 2.

Webster 1913

• to be free or delivered from.

Webster 1913

• to have possession, or right of possession; as, A B was seized and possessed of the manor of Dale. "Whom age might see seized of what youth made prize." Chapman.

Webster 1913

• to be discharged, cleared, or rid of. Colloq. "Are you not glad to be shot of him?"

Webster 1913

• adverb admittedly
  no doubt; without doubt.
  
  • to be sure, he is no Einstein

WordNet

• certainly; without doubt; as, Shall you do? To be sure I shall.

Webster 1913

• to have a particular fondness for, or special interest in, as a young man for a young woman. Colloq. Thackeray.

Webster 1913

• . A corruption of to be taken in the mainor. See Mainor. To be taken in the very act. Obs. See Mainor.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To be driven backward against the mast; said of the sails, also of the ship when the sails are thus driven. (b) To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited.

Webster 1913

• See under Aback, Advantage, etc.

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• to be the cause of death to; to make die. "It was one who should be the death of both his parents." Milton.

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• to be unduly controlled by a wife or mother.

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• be advanced beyond; as, to be turned of sixty-six.

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• to be under suspicion or in disgrace; to be in disfavor.

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• to be confined below in a vessel; to be under arrest, or in slavery, distress, etc.

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• to be so drunk as to have fallen under the table. Eng.

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• (Naut.), to be in motion, as when a ship begins to move.

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• to be informed about; to be versed in. "Anxious that their sons should be well up in the superstitions of two thousand years ago." H. Spencer.

Webster 1913

• . (a) To be equal to, or prepared for; as, he is up to the business, or the emergency. Colloq. (b) To be engaged in; to purpose, with the idea of doing ill or mischief; as, I don't know what he's up to. Colloq.

Webster 1913

• to be in a state of trial, in which something important depends on propriety of conduct.

Webster 1913

• to attack. Obs.

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• to be even with. Prov. Eng. & Scot. Sir W. Scott. T. Hughes.

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• to be in good condition.

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• to be pregnant.

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• to live without giving cause of reproof or censure; to be blameless.

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• to be wholly engrossed in; to be entirely dependent on; to be covered with.

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• to favor or endow with; to be favored or endowed with; as, God blesses us with health; we are blessed with happiness.

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• to omit, or leave untouched; to let alone. "Let be, therefore, my vengeance to dissuade."

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• to track wild bees to their nest by following their line of flight.

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• to cause a swarm of bees to settle, by beating metal to make a din.

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• noun a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous
  eudaemonia; wellbeing; welfare; upbeat; eudaimonia.
  
  • the town was finally on the upbeat after our recent troubles

WordNet

Well"-be`ing noun

Definitions

1. The state or condition of being well; welfare; happiness; prosperity; as, virtue is essential to the well-being of men or of society.

Webster 1913

• leaving out of account; but for the presence or action of. "Moral consideration can no way move the sensible appetite, were it not for the will." Sir M. Hale.

Webster 1913

• adverb in addition; furthermore, their quality is improving"; moreover, mice nested there"
  moreover; furthermore.
  
  • computer chess games are getting cheaper all the time
  • the cellar was dark
  • what is more, there's no sign of a change

WordNet

• What is going on? Slang

Webster 1913

• adjective satellite unfulfilled or frustrated in realizing an ambition
  manque.
  

WordNet