be like

Verb

be like (third-person singular simple present is like, present participle being like, simple past was like, past participle been like)

1. To be similar to (something).
   • They are like their parents in this respect.
   • She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC
2. To be typical or characteristic of (someone or something).
   • In these great sayings Jesus shows what people are like when God is King in their hearts, and in their lives.1903 October 10, E. P. B., “The Children’s Column. The Sermon on the Mount. II.—The Beatitudes. Matthew v. 3–10.”, in The Inquirer: A Weekly Journal of Liberal Religious Thought and Life, volume...
3. (Internet, Multicultural-London-English, US, idiomatic, informal) To say.
   • If he’s like “I don’t want to”, then be like “Pretty please! – It means a lot to me”.
   • This weekend he called me up and he’s all “Where were you today?” and I’m like “I’m at my Grandmother’s house” […]1995, Amy Heckerling, Clueless, spoken by Dionne (Stacey Dash)

   Synonyms:

   be all, be all like

4. To be as though.
   • When they were deciding my age in that place it was like they are going to buy you.2009, Heaven Crawley, quoting Hassan, “Between a rock and a hard place: negotiating age and identity in the UK asylum system”, in Nigel Thomas, editor, Children, Politics and Communication...
   • Cassy, don’t be like you don’t understand.2011, Judith G. Yates Shearer, “This County Named Christian”, in All Bones Be White, Lanham, Md.: Hamilton Books, →ISBN, page 52