Ex*ist" (?), v. i. [imp. & p.
p. Existed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Existing.] [L. existere, exsistere, to step out
or forth, emerge, appear, exist; ex out + sistere to
cause to stand, to set, put, place, stand still, fr. stare to
stand: cf. F. exister. See Stand.] 1.
To be as a fact and not as a mode; to have an actual or real
being, whether material or spiritual.
Who now, alas! no more is missed
Than if he never did exist.
Swift.
To conceive the world . . . to have existed
from eternity.
South.
2. To be manifest in any manner; to continue
to be; as, great evils existed in his reign.
3. To live; to have life or the functions of
vitality; as, men can not exist in water, nor fishes on
land.
Syn. -- See Be.
