beg
/ˈbɛɡ/ verb A2- To request the help of someone, often in the form of money. · He begged on the street corner from passers-by.
- To plead with someone for help, a favor, etc.; to entreat. · I beg your pardon. I didn’t mean to cause offence.· He begged her to go to the prom with him.
- To unwillingly provoke a negative, often violent, reaction. · The way you keep eating raw meat, you're just begging to get tapeworms.
- To obviously lack or be in need of something. · A captivating novel that just begs for a movie adaptation
- In the phrase beg the question: to assume.
- In the phrase beg the question: to raise (a question).
He/she/it begs · Past begged · Past participle begged · -ing form begging
Verb forms
- Base form
- beg
- He/she/it
- begs
- Past
- begged
- Past participle
- begged
- -ing form
- begging
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
She is such a dear quiet thing,” Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, “and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face—and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse—and she’s such a capital one for catching mice—oh, I beg your pardon!” cried Alice again, for this time the Mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended.
And it’ll fetch things when you throw them, and it’ll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things—I can’t remember half of them—and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it’s so useful, it’s worth a hundred pounds!
“I beg your pardon!” said the Mouse, frowning, but very politely: “Did you speak?”
Then they all crowded round her once more, while the Dodo solemnly presented the thimble, saying “We beg your acceptance of this elegant thimble;” and, when it had finished this short speech, they all cheered.
Other matches
Learn beg in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.