beg

v. begged, beg·ging, begs

beg off

beg (someone's) pardon

beg the question

beg to differ

[Middle English beggen, possibly from Anglo-Norman begger, from Old French begart, lay brother, one who prays; see beggar.]

Synonyms: beg, entreat, beseech, implore
These verbs mean to make an earnest request of someone. Beg may imply no more than standard courtesy (forgive me, I beg you), but in less formulaic expressions it usually suggests a respectful seriousness: I begged her to tell me what was troubling her.
Entreat suggests earnest pleading: "Hamilton and Jefferson ... each denounced the other ... Washington was appalled [and] entreated his warring secretaries to make peace" (Herbert Sloan).
Beseech is often used formally, especially in addressing an authority or divinity, but regardless of tone it emphasizes serious concern and often implies urgency: "[She] was beseeching us to do everything possible to save him" (Bernard Lown).
Implore suggests a similar sense of urgency in a matter of great importance: "Her mother had implored her to try to get an education, to try to break out of ... poverty" (Robert Coles). See Also Synonyms at cadge.

Usage Note: Historically, logicians and philosophers have used the phrase beg the question to mean "to put forward an argument whose conclusion is already assumed as a premise." Usually, when people beg the question in this sense, the conclusion and the assumed premise are put in slightly different words, which tends to obscure the fact that such an argument is logically meaningless. For instance, to argue that caviar tastes better than peanut butter because caviar has a superior flavor is to beg the question—the premise that is taken as given (that caviar's flavor is superior) is essentially identical to the point it is intended to prove (that caviar tastes better).·But since at least the early 1900s, laypeople have been using beg the question in slightly different senses, to mean "raise a relevant question" or "leave a relevant question unanswered." When used in these senses, beg the question is usually followed by a clause explaining what the question in question is, as in That article begs the question of whether we should build a new school or renovate the old one or The real estate listing claims that the kitchen is spacious, which begs the question of what "spacious" means. These senses of beg the question are so well established that they have nearly displaced the original sense in everyday usage, but they are still often frowned on by traditionalists, especially those with training in philosophy; in our 2013 survey, the sentences above were judged acceptable only by slim majorities of the Usage Panel—55 and 58 percent, respectively. By contrast, a sentence using the phrase in its original sense (When I asked him why we must protect every endangered species regardless of the cost, he said it was because every species is priceless, but that just begs the question) was considered acceptable by 79 percent of the Panel. The newer senses of beg the question will probably continue to flourish because "begging a question" suggests "begging for," or "raising" a question. However, this broader usage will also probably continue to draw the ire of philosophers and others who use the "circular reasoning" sense of the term, for which there is no good substitute, and do not want to see its technical meaning lost.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

vb, begs, begging or begged

[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

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

1. to ask for as a gift, as charity, or as a favor: to beg alms; to beg forgiveness.

2. to ask (someone) to give or do something; implore: He begged me for help.

3. to avoid; evade: a report that begs the whole problem.

4. to ask alms or charity; live by asking alms.

5. to ask humbly or earnestly.

6. (of a dog) to sit up, as trained, in a posture of entreaty.

7. beg off, to request release from an obligation.

1. beg the question,

2. go begging, to remain unclaimed, unused, or unpurchased.

[before 900; Middle English beggen, by assimilation from Old English *bedican, alter. of bedecian to beg]

usage.: Beg the question is originally a translation of the Latin rhetorical term petitio principii, which means “to assume the truth of the very point under discussion.” For example, to answer the question “Can we afford another employee?” by stating how convenient it would be to have another employee would be begging the question. This expression was then taken to mean “avoid the question” or “evade the issue” - a natural assumption if one is unfamiliar with the original meaning. The most recent, and now quite common, sense is “to raise the question”: His success begs the question: what's next?

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011