"being" definition, meaning, and origin

Conjunction

Given that; since.
- ’Tis a hard matter therefore to confine them, being they are so various and many […]. - , New York Review Books 2001, p.280

Originated 1250–1300 from Middle English being; see be + -ing.

A living creature.
- Minute grew into minute, and still there was no sign of life, nor did the curtain move; but I felt the gaze of the unknown being sinking through and through me, and filling me with a nameless terror, till the...
The state or fact of existence, consciousness, or life, or something in such a state.
- 1608-1634, John Webster (and perhaps Thomas Heywood), Appius and Virginia Claudius, thou / Wast follower of his fortunes in his being.
- For the service to be considered was not the service of one servant, but of two servants, and even of three servants, and even of an infinity of servants, of whom the first could not out till the second up, nor the...
- The written word, he often argued, could only ever be a low-fidelity reproduction of the fullness of being; any text was ultimately humbled by the reality that it sought to represent. - 2019 November 12, Gal Koplewitz,...
That which has actuality (materially or in concept).
One's basic nature, or the qualities thereof; essence or personality.
An abode; a cottage.
- It was a relief to dismiss them [Sir Roger's servants] into little beings within my manor. - 1712 December 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “SUNDAY, November 24, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 544; republished...