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beg

1
[ beg ]
/ bɛg /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR beg ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), begged, beg·ging.

verb (used without object), begged, beg·ging.

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.

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RELATED WORDS

dodge, hide, deceive, conceal, flee, avoid, sidestep, elude, bypass, escape, circumvent, cavil, shuffle, invent, misrepresent, lie, equivocate, fib, falsify, garble

Nearby words

  1. beforehand,
  2. beforetime,
  3. befoul,
  4. befriend,
  5. befuddle,
  6. beg off,
  7. beg the question,
  8. beg to differ,
  9. beg, borrow, or steal,
  10. beg-pardon

Idioms

    beg the question, to assume the truth of the very point raised in a question.
    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 of beg

1
before 900; Middle English beggen, by assimilation from Old English *bedican, syncopated variant of bedecian to beg; compare Gothic bidagwa beggar. See bead
Related formshalf-beg·ging, adjectiveun·begged, adjective

Synonym study

2. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for beg the question

beg

1
/ (bɛɡ) /

verb begs, begging or begged

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

Word Origin for beg

C13: probably from Old English bedecian; related to Gothic bidagwa beggar

usage

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

beg

2
/ (bɛɡ) /

noun

a variant of bey
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for beg the question

beg

v.

c.1200, perhaps from Old English bedecian "to beg," from Proto-Germanic *beth-; or possibly from Anglo-French begger, from Old French begart (see beggar). The Old English 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 Latin 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
Culture definitions for beg the question

beg the question

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.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with beg the question

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 question—she 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?”).

beg

In addition to the idioms beginning with beg

  • beginning of the end, the
  • begin to see daylight
  • begin to see the light
  • begin with
  • beg off
  • beg the question
  • beg to differ

also see:

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