Verb

To guide people to their seats.

* 1836 , , Sketches by Boz , "The curate. The old lady. The half-pay captain."

Her entrance into church on Sunday is always the signal for a little bustle in the side aisle, occasioned by a general rise among the poor people, who bow and curtsey until the pew-opener has ushered the old lady into her accustomed seat, dropped a respectful curtsey, and shut the door;

To accompany or escort (someone).

* 1898 , , The Rise of the Dutch Republic , page 509

Margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered .

(figuratively) To precede; to act as a forerunner or herald.

* 1912 , Elizabeth Christine Cook, Literary Influences in Colonial Newspapers, 1704-1750 , page 31

Thus the Harvard poets and wits ushered The New England Courant out of existence.

(figuratively) to lead or guide somewhere

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=December 29 , author=Keith Jackson , title=SPL: Celtic 1 Rangers 0 , work=Daily Record citation , page= , passage=McCoist unexpectedly ushered back a defender of his own with Kirk Broadfoot taking over from Steven Whittaker. There was, of course, another change, Kyle Bartley stepping in at centre-half to replace suspended Dorin Goian.}}

Verb

(ambitransitive) To start, to initiate or take the first step into something.

* (John Locke) (1632-1705)

The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God.

* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

Ye nymphs of Solyma! begin the song.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}

* , chapter=5

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.}}

To commence existence.

* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

Vast chain of being! which from God began .