Etymology Originated 1250–1300 from Middle English being; see be + -ing.
1
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 perspiration stood in beads upon my brow.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “The Plain of Kôr”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 126:
2
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 second up till the third in, nor the third in till the first out, nor the first out till the third in, nor the third in till the second up, nor the second up till the first out, every going, every being, every coming consisting with a being and a coming, a coming and a going, a going and a being, nay with all the beings and all the comings, with all the comings and all the goings, with all the goings and all the beings, of all the servants that had ever served Mr. Knott, of all the servants that ever would serve Mr. Knott.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
1 more example
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, “Amos Oz and the Politics of the Hebrew Language”, in The New Yorker:
3
Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences That which has actuality (materially or in concept).
4
Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences One's basic nature, or the qualities thereof; essence or personality.
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 in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume VI, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC: