Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Beg

Beg

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

Beg

,
Verb.
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
,
Verb.
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.
Shakespeare
[Joseph]
begged
the body of Jesus.
Matt. xxvii. 58.
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 guardiln for, or to aso to havo 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
.
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.

Beg

,
Verb.
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 1828 Edition

Beg

BEG

,
Noun.
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.

Definition 2024

beg

beg

See also: bég, bèg, and beg.

English

Verb

beg ‎(third-person singular simple present begs, present participle begging, simple past and past participle begged)

  1. (intransitive) to request the help of someone, often in the form of money
    He begged on the street corner from passers-by.
  2. (transitive) to plead with someone for help, a favor, etc.; to entreat
    I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to cause offence.
    He begged her to go to the prom with him.
    • Shakespeare
      I do beg your good will in this case.
    • Bible, Matthew xxvii. 58
      [Joseph] begged the body of Jesus.
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 5
      But that same day came Sam Tewkesbury to the Why Not? about nightfall, and begged a glass of rum, being, as he said, 'all of a shake' […]
  3. (transitive) to assume, in the phrase beg the question
  4. (proscribed) to raise a question, in the phrase beg the question
  5. (law, obsolete) To ask to be appointed guardian for, or to ask to have a guardian appointed for.
    • Harrington
      Else some will beg thee, in the court of wards.
Usage notes
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From Turkish beg.

Noun

beg ‎(plural begs)

  1. a provincial governor under the Ottoman Empire, a bey
Translations

Etymology 3

Abbreviation

beg

  1. (knitting) beginning
    • 2005, DRG Dynamic Resource, House of White Birches, Big Book of Knit Hats & Scarves for Everyone (page 34)
      Knit with MC until work measures 3 inches from beg.

Anagrams

Lojban

Rafsi

beg

  1. rafsi of bengo.

Malay

Etymology

Borrowing from English beg.

Noun

beg ‎(Jawi spelling بيݢ)

  1. bag

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish bec, from Proto-Celtic *bikkos ‎(“small”).

Adjective

beg ‎(plural beggey, comparative loo)

  1. small

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
beg veg meg
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  • “bec” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Slovene

Etymology 1

Related to bijeg (sh)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbéːk/
  • Tonal orthography: bẹ̑g

Noun

bég m inan ‎(genitive béga, nominative plural bégi)

  1. run
  2. getaway
  3. escape
  4. withdrawal
  5. (phrase) flight
    Planiti v beg - To take flight
Declension

Etymology 2

From Turkish bey.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbéːk/
  • Tonal orthography: bẹ̑g

Noun

bég m anim ‎(genitive béga, nominative plural bégi)

  1. bey (Turkish governor)
Declension

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowing from English beg.

Noun

beg ‎(plural begs)

  1. request, an action of begging

Declension

Etymology

From Middle English beggen, assimilation from Old English *becgan, *bedcan, *bedican, syncopated variants of Old English bedecian ‎(“to beg”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *bedagô ‎(“petitioner; requestor; beggar”), from *bedą, *bedō ‎(“prayer; request”). Related to North Frisian bēdagi ‎(“to pray”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍅𐌰 ‎(bidagwa, “beggar”), Old English biddan ‎(“to ask”). More at bid, bead.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bɛɡ/, US also IPA(key): /beɪɡ/
  • Rhymes: -ɛɡ

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