go begging


Be in little or no demand, as in At this time of year barrels of apples go begging. [Late 1500s]

Words Nearby go begging

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use go begging in a sentence

  • The last of the line of the Great Moguls of India had to go begging for a prison.

  • In the future, for all the sympathy that he will arouse, Yan might as well go begging with a silver bowl.

    Kai Lung's Golden Hours | Ernest Bramah
  • Ideas always have to go begging at first, and the greater the idea the rougher the sledding.

    How to Analyze People on Sight | Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict
  • It is as ignoble to go begging conditions as to go begging bread.

    Tablets | Amos Bronson Alcott
  • Yet this region does not need to go begging for jays, only they belong to different groups of the Garrulinæ subfamily.

    Birds of the Rockies | Leander Sylvester Keyser