Adjacent Words

Beg definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BEG, n. In the Turkish dominions, a governor of a town or country; more particularly, the lord of a sangiac or banner. Every province is divided into seven sangiacs or banners, each of which qualifies a bey; and these are commanded by the governor of the province, called begler-beg or lord of all the beys. Each beg has the command of a certain number of spahis, or horse, denominated
timariots.
In Tunis, the beg or bey is the prince or king, answering to the dey of Algiers.
In Egypt, the begs are twelve generals who command the militia, or standing forces of the kingdom.
BEG, v.t.
1. To ask earnestly; to beseech; to entreat or supplicate with humility. It implies more urgency than ask or petition.
Joseph begged the body of Jesus. Math.27.
2. To ask or supplicate in charity; as, we may yet be reduced to beg our bread.
3. To take for granted; to assume without proof; as, to beg the question in debate.
BEG, v.i. To ask alms or charity; to practice begging; to live by asking alms.
I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. Luke 16.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: call upon in supplication; entreat; "I beg you to stop!" [syn: beg, implore, pray]
2: make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently; "Henry IV solicited the Pope for a divorce"; "My neighbor keeps soliciting money for different charities" [syn: solicit, beg, tap]
3: ask to obtain free; "beg money and food"
4: dodge, avoid answering, or take for granted; "beg the question"; "beg the point in the discussion"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (begged; begging) Etymology: Middle English beggen Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. to ask for as a charity 2. a. to ask earnestly for ; entreat b. to require as necessary or appropriate 3. evade, sidestep <begged the real problems> intransitive verb 1. to ask for alms 2. to ask earnestly <begged for mercy> Synonyms: beg, entreat, beseech, implore, supplicate, adjure, importune mean to ask urgently. beg suggests earnestness or insistence especially in asking for a favor <children begging to stay up late>. entreat implies an effort to persuade or to overcome resistance <entreated him to change his mind>. beseech implies great eagerness or anxiety <I beseech you to have mercy>. implore adds to beseech a suggestion of greater urgency or anguished appeal <implored her not to leave him>. supplicate suggests a posture of humility <with bowed heads they supplicated their Lord>. adjure implies advising as well as pleading and suggests the invoking of something sacred <in God's name I adjure you to cease>. importune suggests an annoying persistence in trying to break down resistance to a request <importuning viewers for contributions>. II. abbreviation begin; beginning

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. (begged, begging) 1 a intr. (usu. foll. by for) ask for (esp. food, money, etc.) (begged for alms). b tr. ask for (food, money, etc.) as a gift. c intr. live by begging. 2 tr. & intr. (usu. foll. by for, or to + infin.) ask earnestly or humbly (begged for forgiveness; begged to be allowed out; please, I beg of you; beg your indulgence for a time). 3 tr. ask formally for (beg leave). 4 intr. (of a dog etc.) sit up with the front paws raised expectantly. 5 tr. take or ask leave (to do something) (I beg to differ; beg to enclose). Phrases and idioms: beg one's bread live by begging. begging bowl 1 a bowl etc. held out for food or alms. 2 an earnest appeal for help. beg off 1 decline to take part in or attend. 2 get (a person) excused a penalty etc. beg pardon see PARDON. beg the question 1 assume the truth of an argument or proposition to be proved, without arguing it. 2 disp. pose the question. 3 colloq. evade a difficulty. go begging (or a-begging) (of a chance or a thing) not be taken; be unwanted. Etymology: ME prob. f. OE bedecian f. Gmc: rel. to BID

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beg Beg, v. i. To ask alms or charity, especially to ask habitually by the wayside or from house to house; to live by asking alms. I can not dig; to beg I am ashamed. --Luke xvi. 3.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beg Beg, n. [Turk. beg, pronounced bay. Cf. Bey, Begum.] A title of honor in Turkey and in some other parts of the East; a bey.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Beg Beg, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Begged; p. pr. & vb. n. Begging.] [OE. beggen, perh. fr. AS. bedecian (akin to Goth. bedagwa beggar), biddan to ask. (Cf. Bid, v. t.); or cf. beghard, beguin.] 1. To ask earnestly for; to entreat or supplicate for; to beseech. I do beg your good will in this case. --Shak. [Joseph] begged the body of Jesus. --Matt. xxvii. 58. Note: Sometimes implying deferential and respectful, rather than earnest, asking; as, I beg your pardon; I beg leave to disagree with you. 2. To ask for as a charity, esp. to ask for habitually or from house to house. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. --Ps. xxxvii. 25. 3. To make petition to; to entreat; as, to beg a person to grant a favor. 4. To take for granted; to assume without proof.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(begs, begging, begged) 1. If you beg someone to do something, you ask them very anxiously or eagerly to do it. I begged him to come back to England with me... I begged to be allowed to leave... We are not going to beg for help any more... They dropped to their knees and begged forgiveness. VERB: V n to-inf, V to-inf-passive, V for n, V n, also V n with quote 2. If someone who is poor is begging, they are asking people to give them food or money. I was surrounded by people begging for food... There are thousands like him in Los Angeles, begging on the streets and sleeping rough... She was living alone, begging food from neighbors. VERB: oft cont, V for n, V, V n 3. You say 'I beg to differ' when you are politely emphasizing that you disagree with someone. PHRASE: V inflects [politeness] 4. If you say that something is going begging, you mean that it is available but no one is using it or accepting it. There is other housing going begging in town. PHRASE: V inflects 5. If you say that something begs a particular question, you mean that it makes people want to ask that question; some people consider that this use is incorrect. Hopewell's success begs the question: why aren't more companies doing the same? PHRASE: V and N inflect 6. If you say that something begs a particular question, you mean that it assumes that the question has already been answered and so does not deal with it. (WRITTEN) The research begs a number of questions. PHRASE: V and N inflect 7. I beg your pardon: see pardon

Easton's Bible Dictionary

That the poor existed among the Hebrews we have abundant evidence (Ex. 23:11; Deut. 15:11), but there is no mention of beggars properly so called in the Old Testament. The poor were provided for by the law of Moses (Lev. 19:10; Deut. 12:12; 14:29). It is predicted of the seed of the wicked that they shall be beggars (Ps. 37:25; 109:10).

In the New Testament we find not seldom mention made of beggars (Mark 10:46; Luke 16:20, 21; Acts 3:2), yet there is no mention of such a class as vagrant beggars, so numerous in the East. "Beggarly," in Gal. 4:9, means worthless.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Crave, solicit, beseech, pray, implore, supplicate, conjure, importune, petition, request, ask, pray for, petition for, seek by petition, sue for, ask earnestly. 2. Crave permission, solicit leave, desire earnestly, take leave, take the liberty, demand. 3. Assume, take for granted, assume without proof, or without warrant. II. v. n. Solicit charity, ask alms.

Moby Thesaurus

adjure, appeal, appeal to, ask, bear, beget, beseech, besiege, brace, breed, bum, cadge, call for help, call on, call upon, circumvent, clamor for, conjure, crave, cry for, cry on, cry to, demand, ditch, double, elude, entreat, escape, evade, generate, get, get around, get away from, get out of, hit, hit up, impetrate, implore, importune, imprecate, invoke, kneel to, mooch, multiply, nag, obtest, panhandle, pass the hat, petition, plead, plead for, pray, press, procreate, produce, progenerate, propagate, reproduce, request, run to, scrounge, shake, shake off, shuffle out of, sire, skirt, solicit, sue, supplicate, touch, worry