to ask for as a gift, as charity, or as a favor: to beg alms; to beg forgiveness.
2.
to ask (someone) to give or do something; implore: He begged me for mercy. Sit down, I beg you.
3.
to take for granted without basis or justification: a statement that begs the very point we're disputing.
4.
to fail or refuse to come to grips with; avoid; evade: a report that consistently begs the whole problem.
–verb (used without object)
5.
to ask alms or charity; live by asking alms.
6.
to ask humbly or earnestly: begging for help; begging to differ.
7.
(of a dog) to sit up, as trained, in a posture of entreaty.
—Verb phrase
8.
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
9.
beg the question, to assume the truth of the very point raised in a question.
10.
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: bef. 900; ME beggen, by assimilation from OE *bedican, syncopated var. of bedecian to beg; cf. Goth bidagwa beggar. See bead]
—Synonyms 2. entreat, pray, beseech, petition. 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 report, 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.
To ask for as charity: begged money while sitting in a doorway.
To ask earnestly for or of; entreat: begged me for help.
To evade; dodge: a speech that begged the real issues.
To take for granted without proof: beg the point in a dispute.
v.
intr.
To solicit alms.
To make a humble or urgent plea.
Phrasal Verb(s): beg off
To ask to be released from something, such as an obligation: We were invited to stay for dinner, but we had to beg off.
[Middle English beggen, possibly from Anglo-Norman begger, from Old French begart, lay brother, one who prays; see beggar.]
Synonyms: These verbs mean to make an earnest request. Beg and crave mean to ask in a serious and sometimes humble manner, especially for something one cannot claim as a right: I begged her to forgive me. The attorney craved the court's indulgence. Beseech emphasizes earnestness and often implies anxiety: Be silent, we beseech you. Implore intensifies the sense of urgency and anxiety: The child implored his father not to be angry. Entreat pertains to persuasive pleading: "Ask me no questions, I entreat you" (Charles Dickens).
Importune adds the sense of persistent and sometimes irksome pleading: The foundation was importuned by fundraisers. See Also Synonyms at cadge.
c.1225, perhaps from O.E. bedecian "to beg," from P.Gmc. *beth-; or possibly from Anglo-Fr. begger, from O.Fr. begart (see beg). The O.E. word for "beggar" was wædla. Of trained dogs, 1816. As a courteous mode of asking (beg pardon, etc.), first attested 1600. To beg the question translates L. petitio principii, and means "to assume something that hasn't been proven as a basis of one's argument," thus "asking" one's opponent to give something unearned, though more of the nature of taking it for granted without warrant.
call upon in supplication; entreat; "I beg you to stop!"
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]
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"
Ask\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Asked; p. pr. & vb. n. Asking.] [OE. asken, ashen, axien, AS. [=a]scian, [=a]csian; akin to OS. [=e]sc[=o]n, OHG. eisc[=o]n, Sw. [=a]ska, Dan. [ae]ske, D. eischen, G. heischen, Lith. j["e]sk['o]ti, OSlav. iskati to seek, Skr. ish to desire. [root]5.]1. To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; -- often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God. --Judg. xviii. 5. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. --John xv. 7. 2. To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity; as, what price do you ask? Ask me never so much dowry. --Gen. xxxiv. 12. To whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. --Luke xii. 48. An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a design to maturity. --Addison. 3. To interrogate or inquire of or concerning; to put a question to or about; to question. He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. --John ix. 21. He asked the way to Chester. --Shak. 4. To invite; as, to ask one to an entertainment. 5. To publish in church for marriage; -- said of both the banns and the persons. --Fuller. Syn: To beg; request; seek; petition; solicit; entreat; beseech; implore; crave; require; demand; claim; exhibit; inquire; interrogate. See 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. 5. (Old Law) To ask to be appointed guardian for, or to ask to have a guardian appointed for. Else some will beg thee, in the court of wards. --Harrington. Hence: To beg (one) for a fool, to take him for a fool. 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. 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.
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.
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