beget
[bih-get]
- (especially of a male parent) to procreate or generate (offspring).
- to cause; produce as an effect: a belief that power begets power.
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Origin of beget
Synonyms
See more synonyms for beget on Thesaurus.com1. spawn, sire, breed, father. 2. occasion, engender, effect, generate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for begets
Contemporary Examples
And just as buying begets more buying, selling often begets more selling.
Japan’s Stock Market Suffers as Investors Worry About Success of AbenomicsWilliam O’Connor
June 13, 2013
It also begets a plastic surgery chic, where people trade faces like they do cars.
Historical Examples
This begets a very natural question; What is meant by a sceptic?
These lies are like the father that begets them; gross as a mountain, open palpable.
The Universal ReciterVarious
This she said with that genuine tone which begets confidence.
Is He Popenjoy?Anthony Trollope
They make for him a fame which begets respect where his wrongs only excited pity.
It begets a solitude in a vast thronged assemblage for you and for me.
The Dop DoctorClotilde Inez Mary Graves
beget
- to father
- to cause or create
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Word Origin
Old English begietan; related to Old Saxon bigetan, Old High German pigezzan, Gothic bigitan to find; see be-, get
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for begets
beget
v.
Old English begietan "to get by effort, find, acquire, attain, seize" (class V strong verb, past tense begeat, past participle begeaton), from be- + get (v.). Sense of "to procreate" is from c.1200. Related to Old High German pigezzan, Gothic bigitan "to get, obtain." Related: Begot; begotten.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper