beg
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
beg
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"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
[1913 Webster]
I do beg your good will in this case. --Shak.
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[Joseph] begged the body of Jesus. --Matt. xxvii.
58.
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Note: Sometimes implying deferential and respectful, rather
than earnest, asking; as, I beg your pardon; I beg
leave to disagree with you.
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2. To ask for as a charity, esp. to ask for habitually or
from house to house.
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Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging bread. --Ps. xxxvii.
25.
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3. To make petition to; to entreat; as, to beg a person to
grant a favor.
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4. To take for granted; to assume without proof.
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5. (Old Law) To ask to be appointed guardiln for, or to aso
to havo a guardian appointed for.
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Else some will beg thee, in the court of wards.
--Harrington.
[1913 Webster] Hence:
{To beg (one) for a fool}, to take him for a fool.
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{I beg to}, is an elliptical expression for I beg leave to;
as, I beg to inform you.
{To beg the question}, to assume that which was to be proved
in a discussion, instead of adducing the proof or
sustaining the point by argument.
{To go a-begging}, a figurative phrase to express the absence
of demand for something which elsewhere brings a price;
as, grapes are so plentiful there that they go a-begging.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: To {Beg}, {Ask}, {Request}.
Usage: To ask (not in the sense of inquiring) is the generic
term which embraces all these words. To request is
only a polite mode of asking. To beg, in its original
sense, was to ask with earnestness, and implied
submission, or at least deference. At present,
however, in polite life, beg has dropped its original
meaning, and has taken the place of both ask and
request, on the ground of its expressing more of
deference and respect. Thus, we beg a person's
acceptance of a present; we beg him to favor us with
his company; a tradesman begs to announce the arrival
of new goods, etc. Crabb remarks that, according to
present usage, "we can never talk of asking a person's
acceptance of a thing, or of asking him to do us a
favor." This can be more truly said of usage in
England than in America.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906)
BEG, v. To ask for something with an earnestness proportioned to the
belief that it will not be given.
Who is that, father?
A mendicant, child,
Haggard, morose, and unaffable -- wild!
See how he glares through the bars of his cell!
With Citizen Mendicant all is not well.
Why did they put him there, father?
Because
Obeying his belly he struck at the laws.
His belly?
Oh, well, he was starving, my boy --
A state in which, doubtless, there's little of joy.
No bite had he eaten for days, and his cry
Was "Bread!" ever "Bread!"
What's the matter with pie?
With little to wear, he had nothing to sell;
To beg was unlawful -- improper as well.
Why didn't he work?
He would even have done that,
But men said: "Get out!" and the State remarked: "Scat!"
I mention these incidents merely to show
That the vengeance he took was uncommonly low.
Revenge, at the best, is the act of a Siou,
But for trifles --
Pray what did bad Mendicant do?
Stole two loaves of bread to replenish his lack
And tuck out the belly that clung to his back.
Is that _all_ father dear?
There's little to tell:
They sent him to jail, and they'll send him to -- well,
The company's better than here we can boast,
And there's --
Bread for the needy, dear father?
Um -- toast.
Atka Mip
from
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Beg
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.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
71 Moby Thesaurus words for "beg":
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
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