to ask for as a gift, as charity, or as a favor: to beg alms; to beg forgiveness.
to ask (someone) to give or do something; implore: He begged me for mercy. Sit down, I beg you.
to take for granted without basis or justification: a statement that begs the very point we're disputing.
to fail or refuse to come to grips with; avoid; evade: a report that consistently begs the whole problem.
verb (used without object),begged,beg·ging.
to ask alms or charity; live by asking alms.
to ask humbly or earnestly: begging for help; begging to differ.
(of a dog) to sit up, as trained, in a posture of entreaty.
Verb Phrases
beg off,to request or obtain release from an obligation, promise, etc.: He had promised to drive us to the recital but begged off at the last minute.
Idioms for beg
beg the question,
to assume the truth of the very point raised in a question.
to evade the issue or avoid a direct answer.
to raise the question; inspire one to ask.
See Usage note at the current entry.
go begging, to remain open or available, as a position that is unfilled or an unsold item: The job went begging for lack of qualified applicants.
Origin of beg
1
First recorded before 900; Middle English beggen, by assimilation from unattested Old English bedican, syncopated variant of bedecian “to beg”; compare Gothic bidagwa “beggar.”
SYNONYMS FOR beg
2 entreat, pray, beseech, petition.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR beg ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for beg
1, 2, 6. Beg and request are used in certain conventional formulas, in the sense of ask.Beg, once a part of many formal expressions used in letter writing, debate, etc., is now used chiefly in such courteous formulas as I beg your pardon; The Committee begs to state, etc. Request, more impersonal and now more formal, is used in giving courteous orders (You are requested to report) and in commercial formulas like to request payment.
historical usage of beg
9. The idiom beg the question is a translation of the Latin rhetorical term petitio principii and its original meaning is “to assume the truth of the very point under discussion.” For example, to answer the question “Can we afford another employee?” by stating how convenient it would be to have another employee would be begging the question. This idiom was then taken to mean “to evade the issue or avoid the question,” a natural assumption if one is unfamiliar with the original meaning. The most recent, and now quite common, sense is “to raise the question”: His success begs the question: what will be his next project? However, the original meaning, having to do with a fallacy of reasoning or argument, is useful and in fact many people favor restricting the phrase to this meaning.
OTHER WORDS FROM beg
half-begging,adjectiveun·begged,adjective
Words nearby beg
before you can say Jack Robinson, before you know it, befoul, befriend, befuddle, beg, begad, began, begar, begat, begats
But a world of people who care so very passionately about figure skating for exactly 10 days every four years beg to differ.
Sotnikova Beat Kim Yu-Na? Figure Skating Is Probably Corrupt (But We Knew That)|Kevin Fallon|February 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As scandals continue to unfold in front of him, they beg more questions than I am sure Scott Walker would like to answer.
Dem’s the Breaks: GOP Investigation Gives the Left Another Reason to Point Fingers|David Freedlander|February 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Doesn't this urge you to pity, so that you will beg His Holiness for pardon, beg him to receive us?
Three Plays|Luigi Pirandello
May I—just for the next few days—beg your acceptance of this bauble?
What a Man Wills|Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
I beg you to greet for me all our old friends in the Palatinate; I curse this war to-day more than ever.
The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adlade de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr|Charlotte-Elisabeth, duchesse d Orlans; Marie Adelaide, of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy; and Madame de Maintenon
I beg leave particularly to call your attention to the accompanying report from the Secretary of War.
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Tyler|Compiled by James D. Richardson
In regard to all that concerns myself and the writer, I must beg you to ask me no questions.
Lord Montagu's Page|G. P. R. James
British Dictionary definitions for beg (1 of 2)
beg1
/ (bɛɡ) /
verbbegs, beggingorbegged
(when intr , often foll by for) to solicit (for money, food, etc), esp in the street
to ask (someone) for (something or leave to do something) formally, humbly, or earnestlyI beg forgiveness; I beg to differ
(intr)(of a dog) to sit up with forepaws raised expectantly
to leave unanswered or unresolvedto beg a point
beg the question
to evade the issue
to assume the thing under examination as proved
to suggest that a question needs to be askedthe firm's success begs the question: why aren't more companies doing the same?
go beggingorgo a-beggingto be unwanted or unused
See also beg off
Word Origin for beg
C13: probably from Old English bedecian; related to Gothic bidagwabeggar
usage for beg
The use of beg the question to mean that a question needs to be asked is considered by some people to be incorrect