beg the question

verb (used with object)

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)

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.

00:10

Beg the question is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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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

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:
before 900; Middle English beggen, by assimilation from Old English *bedican, syncopated variant of bedecian to beg; compare Gothic bidagwa beggar. See bead

Related forms

half-beg·ging, adjective

un·begged, adjective

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.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To beg the question

Collins

World English Dictionary

beg¹ (bɛɡ)

—vb (when intr, often foll by for) , begs, begging, begged
1.	to solicit (for money, food, etc), esp in the street
2.	to ask (someone) for (something or leave to do something) formally, humbly, or earnestly: I beg forgiveness; I beg to differ
3.	(intr) (of a dog) to sit up with forepaws raised expectantly
4.	to leave unanswered or unresolved: to beg a point
5.	beg the question
	a. to evade the issue
	b. to assume the thing under examination as proved
	c. to suggest that a question needs to be asked: the firm's success begs the question: why aren't more companies doing the same?
6.	go begging, go a-begging to be unwanted or unused

usage The use of beg the question to mean that a question needs to be asked is considered by some people to be incorrect

beg² (bɛɡ)

—n
	a variant of bey

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon

Main Entry:	beg the question
Part of Speech:	v
Definition:	to assume an answer to an unstated question or premise

Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

beg

early 13c., perhaps from O.E. bedecian "to beg," from P.Gmc. *beth-; or possibly from Anglo-Fr. begger, from O.Fr. begart (see beggar). The O.E. word for "beg" was wædlian, from wædl "poverty." Of trained dogs, 1816. As a courteous mode of asking (beg pardon,

etc.), first attested c.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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

beg the question definition

To assume what has still to be proved: “To say that we should help the region's democratic movement begs the question of whether it really is democratic.”

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

BEG
big evil grin

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Beg definition

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.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

beg the question

Take for granted or assume the truth of the very thing being questioned. For example, Shopping now for a dress to wear to the ceremony is really begging the questionshe hasn't been invited yet. This phrase, whose roots are in Aristotle's writings on logic, came into English in the late 1500s. In the 1990s, however, people sometimes used the phrase as a synonym of "ask the question" (as in The article begs the question: "What are we afraid of?").

Matching Quote

"It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between "ideas" and "things," both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is "real" or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction."

-Charles Feidelson, Jr.

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