1.the event consisting of the start of something;
the beginning of the war
2.the time at which something is supposed to begin;
they got an early start
3.the first part or section of something;
`It was a dark and stormy night' is a hackneyed beginning for a story
4.the place where something begins, where it springs into being;
the Italian beginning of the Renaissance
5.the act of starting something;
he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations
6.serving to begin;
the beginning canto of the poem