begem (bejem)

t.; pret. and pp. begemmed, ppr. begemming. [ beguin (ML. begin us , begginus , beghinus , begui- nus, etc.), names given to the members of a men- dicant lay brotherhood (see Beghard and Be- guin); also applied to any begging friar or other beggar. Such mendicants were very numerous at the time of the first of the E. beget (be-get' The lawn Begemmed with dew-drops. Scott , L. of the L., iii. 2. et'), v. t.; pret. begot , formerly be- the derivappearanceguinte begat, pp. begotten , begot , ppr. begetting . [ME. guigner ( found in the of 'beg.' The E. verb may be a back formation from the noun beggar (ME. begger, beggere, beggar, beggare ), which is, in this view, an adapted form (as if a noun of agent in -ar1, -er1) of the OF. begar, begard, etc., a Beghard. Beghard is otherwise not found in ME., though the precise form begger is found in Wyclif and later as a designation of the mendicant friars (Beghards), appar. without direct reference to their begging.] I. trans. 1. To ask for or supplicate in charity; ask as alms. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. (= OS. big it an =OHG. bigezan ), get, ac quire, be- + git an, get an, get: see be -1 and get1.] 1. To procreate; generate: chiefly used of the father alone, but sometimes of both parents. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. Mat. i. 2. Yet they a beauteous offspring shall beget . Milton , P. L., xi. 613. Become stout Marses, and beget young Cupids. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1. 2. To produce as an effect; cause to exist; generate; occasion: as, luxury begets vice; "love is begot by fancy," Glanville . Ps. xxxvii. 25. IMG:content-1863.png:[blocks in formation] To beg the question, in logic, to a ume or take as granted that which is not more certain than the proposi tion to be proved, or which obviously involves the point in question; a ume as a premise what no one who takes the opposite view of the question will admit. The sophism of begging the question is, then, when any thing is proved either by itself or something that is equally unknown with itself. Burgersdicius , tr. by a Gentleman (1697). The attempt to infer his [Shakspere's] cla ical education from the internal evidence of his works is simply a begging of the question. G. P. Marsh , Lects. on Eng. Lang., p. 82. To maintain, as Sir Wyville Thomson does, that 32° is the temperature of the floor on which the Antarctic ice sheet rests, is virtually to beg the question . J. Croll , Climate and Cosmology, p. 226. =Syn. Ask , Request , Beg , etc. (see ask1 ); to pray (for), conjure, petition (for). II. in trans. 1. To ask alms or charity; practise begging; live by asking alms. I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. Luke xvi. 3. 2. In the game of all-fours, to ask of the dealer a conce ion of one point to be added to one's count. The dealer must either concede the point or deal out three additional cards to each player. Should the suit originally turned as trump appear after this new deal, three, or fewer if so agreed, must be dealt to each until a different trump appears. To beg off, to obtain release from a penalty, obligation, etc., by entreaty or excuses. beg2 (beg), n. Same as bey1. beg a, bigg ah (bēga, big'ä), n. [Also written beega, beegah, beegha, etc., repr. Hind, bighā, Intellectual science has been observed to beget invariably a doubt of the existence of matter. Emerson , Nature. Thought is e entially independent of language, and speech could never have begotten reason. Mivart , Nature and Thought, p. 167. =Syn. To breed, engender. begetter (bē-get'er), n. One who begets or procreates; a father.