Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EX-IST', v.i. [egzist'; L. existo; ex and sisto, or more directly from Gr. ίστω, ίστημι, to set, place or fix, or σταω, L. sto, to stand, Sp. Port. estar, It. stare, G. stehen, D. staan, Russ. stoyu. The primary sense is to set, fix or be fixed, whence the sense of permanence, continuance.]

1. To be; to have an essence or real being; applicable to matter or body, and to spiritual substances. A supreme being and first cause of all other beings must have existed from eternity, for no being can have created himself.
2. To live; to have life or animation. Men can not exist in water, nor fishes on land.
3. To remain; to endure; to continue in being. How long shall national enmities exist?