Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BE-GIN'NING, n.

1. The first cause; origin. I am the beginning and the ending. – Rev. i.
2. That which is first; the first state; commencement; entrance into being. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. – Gen. i.
3. The rudiments, first ground, or materials. Mighty things from small beginnings grow. – Dryden.