Beg Definition

bĕg
begged, begging, begs
verb
begged, begging, begs
To ask (someone) for something in an urgent or humble manner.
Begged me for help; begged me to give him the phone number.
American Heritage
To ask for as charity or as a gift.
He begged a dime.
Webster's New World
To ask for alms; be a beggar.
Webster's New World
To ask for (something) in an urgent or humble manner.
Beg someone's forgiveness; beg a favor.
American Heritage
To ask for earnestly as a kindness or favor.
Webster's New World
noun
begs

A provincial governor under the Ottoman Empire, a bey.

Wiktionary
abbreviation

(knitting) Beginning.

Wiktionary
idiom
beg (someone's) pardon
  • Used to introduce a polite request.
American Heritage
beg the question
  • To assume to be true what one is purporting to prove in an argument.
  • To call to mind a question in a discussion; invite or provoke a question.
American Heritage
beg to differ
  • To disagree in a polite manner.
American Heritage
beg off
  • to ask to be released from some obligation
Webster's New World
beg the question
  • to use an argument that assumes as proved the very thing one is trying to prove
  • to evade the issue
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Beg

Noun

Singular:
beg
Plural:
begs

Origin of Beg

  • From Middle English beggen, assimilation from Old English *bedican, syncopated variant of bedecian (“to beg”). Related to Gothic (bidagwa, “beggar”), Old English biddan (“to ask”). More at bid, bead.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English beggen possibly from Anglo-Norman begger from Old French begart lay brother, one who prays beggar

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Turkish beg.

    From Wiktionary

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