Begin and First

noun

• 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))
  • synonyms: Menachem Begin

verb

• Take the first step or steps in carrying out an action.
  • usage: "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"
  • synonyms: get down, get, start out, start, set about, set out, commence
• Have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense.
  • usage: "The DMZ begins right over the hill"; "The second movement begins after the Allegro"; "Prices for these homes start at $250, 000"
  • synonyms: start
• Set in motion, cause to start.
  • usage: "The U. S. Started a war in the Middle East"; "The Iraqis began hostilities"; "begin a new chapter in your life"
  • synonyms: lead off, start, commence
• Begin to speak or say. "Now listen, friends" he began
• Be the first item or point, constitute the beginning or start, come first in a series.
  • usage: "The number `one' begins the sequence"; "A terrible murder begins the novel"; "The convocation ceremony officially begins the semester"
• Have a beginning, of a temporal event.
  • usage: "WW II began in 1939 when Hitler marched into Poland"; "The company's Asia tour begins next month"
• Have a beginning characterized in some specified way.
  • usage: "The novel begins with a murder"; "My property begins with the three maple trees"; "Her day begins with a workout"; "The semester begins with a convocation ceremony"
  • synonyms: start
• Begin an event that is implied and limited by the nature or inherent function of the direct object.
  • usage: "begin a cigar"; "She started the soup while it was still hot"; "We started physics in 10th grade"
  • synonyms: start
• Achieve or accomplish in the least degree, usually used in the negative.
  • usage: "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"
• Begin to speak, understand, read, and write a language.
  • usage: "She began Russian at an early age"; "We started French in fourth grade"

• (v.t.) To enter on; to commence.
• (v.t.) To trace or lay the foundation of; to make or place a beginning of.
• (v.i.) 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.
• (v.i.) To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence.
• (n.) Beginning.

noun

• The first or highest in an ordering or series.
  • usage: "He wanted to be the first"
  • synonyms: number one
• The first element in a countable series.
  • usage: "the first of the month"
  • synonyms: number one, number 1
• The time at which something is supposed to begin.
  • usage: "they got an early start"; "she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her"
  • synonyms: beginning, commencement, outset, get-go, start, kickoff, starting time, showtime, offset
• The fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed at first of the bases in the infield (counting counterclockwise from home plate.
  • synonyms: first base
• An honours degree of the highest class.
  • synonyms: first-class honours degree
• The lowest forward gear ratio in the gear box of a motor vehicle; used to start a car moving.
  • synonyms: first gear, low gear, low

adjective

• Preceding all others in time or space or degree.
  • usage: "the first house on the right"; "the first day of spring"; "his first political race"; "her first baby"; "the first time"; "the first meetings of the new party"; "the first phase of his training"
• Indicating the beginning unit in a series.
  • synonyms: 1st
• Serving to set in motion.
  • usage: "the magazine's inaugural issue"; "the initiative phase in the negotiations"; "an initiatory step toward a treaty"; "his first (or maiden) speech in Congress"; "the liner's maiden voyage"
  • synonyms: inaugural, initiative, initiatory, maiden
• Serving to begin.
  • usage: "the beginning canto of the poem"; "the first verse"
  • synonyms: beginning
• Ranking above all others.
  • usage: "was first in her class"; "the foremost figure among marine artists"; "the top graduate"
  • synonyms: foremost, world-class
• Highest in pitch or chief among parts or voices or instruments or orchestra sections.
  • usage: "first soprano"; "the first violin section"; "played first horn"

adverb

• Before anything else.
  • usage: "first we must consider the garter snake"
  • synonyms: firstly, foremost, first of all, first off
• The initial time.
  • usage: "when Felix first saw a garter snake"
  • synonyms: for the first time
• Before another in time, space, or importance.
  • usage: "I was here first"; "let's do this job first"
• Prominently forward.
  • usage: "he put his best foot foremost"
  • synonyms: foremost

• (a.) Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest; as, Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
• (a.) Foremost; in front of or in advance of, all others.
• (adv.) Before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, etc.; -- much used in composition with adjectives and participles.
• (n.) The upper part of a duet, trio, etc., either vocal or instrumental; -- so called because it generally expresses the air, and has a preeminence in the combined effect.
• (a.) Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest; as, the first day of a month; the first year of a reign.