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.

Syn. -- Inception; prelude; opening; threshold; origin; outset; foundation.

• 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.
  
• That which is begun; a rudiment or element.
  
• That which begins or originates something; the first cause; origin; source.
  
• The present participle of the verb to begin
        He is beginning to read a new book.