Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BEG'GAR, v.t.

1. To reduce to beggary; to impoverish. Shak.
2. To deprive, or make destitute; to exhaust; as, to beggar description.

BEG'GAR-ED, pp.

Reduced to extreme poverty.

BEG'GAR-ING, ppr.

Reducing to indigence, or a state of beggary.

BEG'GAR-LI-NESS, n.

The state of being beggarly; meanness; extreme poverty. Barret.

BEG'GAR-LY, a.

Mean; poor; in the condition of a beggar; extremely indigent. Shak.

BEG'GAR-LY, adv.

Meanly; indigently; despicably. Hooker.

BEG'GAR-MAID, n.

A maid that is a beggar. Shak.

BEG'GAR-MAN, n.

A man that is a beggar. Shak.

BEG'GAR-WO-MAN, n.

A female begger. Shak.

BEG'GAR-Y, n.

A state of extreme indigence. Sidney.

BEG'GED, pp.

Entreated; supplicated; asked in charity.

BEG'GING, n.

The act of soliciting alms; the practice of asking alms; as, he lives by begging.

BEG'GING, ppr.

Asking alms; supplicating; assuming without proof.

BE-GHARDS', or BE-GUARDS', n.

A religious order of St. Francis in Flanders, established at Antwerp in 1228, and so named from St. Begghe, their patroness. They at first employed themselves in making linen cloth, united in bonds of charity, without any rule; but in 1290, they embraced that of the third order of St. Francis. The name has been transferred to all the other religious of the convent of Antwerp. Encyc.

BE-GILT', a.

Gilded. B. Jonson.

BE-GIN', v.i. [pret. began, pp. begun. Sax. gynnan, aginnan, beginnan, and onginnan, to begin, ongin, a beginning; Goth. duginnan; Sw. begynna; Dan. begynder; D. and Ger. beginnen, to begin; D. and German beginn, a beginning, origin; W. cycwnu, to begin, cy, a prefix, and cwn, a head. The radical word is gin or gyn, to which are prefixed be, on, and du, which is to. This appears to be the root of the Gr. γινομαι, γενναω, L. genero, gigno, coinciding with Syr. ܒܢ kōn, to begin to be; in Aph. to plant, to confirm, to create, Eth. ከወነ kōn, to be, to become, or be made; Ar. كاَنَ kana, to be, or become, to make, to create, to generate; Heb. Ch. and Sam. כון, to make ready, to adapt, prepare, establish; Sam. to create. The primary sense is, to throw, thrust, stretch forward; hence, to set, or to produce, according to its connection or application.]

1. To have an original or first existence; to take rise; to commence. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began. Luke i. Judgment must begin at the house of God. 1 Pet. iv. From Nimrod first the savage race began. Pope. And tears began to flow. Dryden.
2. To do the first act; to enter upon something new; to take the first step; as, begin my muse. Begin every day to repent. Taylor. When I begin, I will also make an end. 1 Sam. iii.

BE-GIN', v.t.

1. To do the first act of any thing; to enter on; to commence. Ye nymphs of Solyma, begin the song. Pope. And this they begin to do. Gen. xi.
2. To trace from any thing, as the first ground; to lay the foundation. The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which leads us to the knowledge of God. Locke. To begin with, to enter upon first; to use or employ first; as, to begin with the Latin grammar; to begin business with a small capital.

BE-GIN'NER, n.

1. The person who begins; he that gives an original; the agent who is the cause; an author.
2. One who first enters upon any art, science, or business; one who is in his rudiments; a young practitioner; often implying want of experience.

BE-GIN'NING, n.

1. The first cause; origin. I am the beginning and the ending. Rev. i.
2. That which is first; the first state; commencement; entrance into being. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Gen. i.
3. The rudiments, first ground, or materials. Mighty things from small beginnings grow. Dryden.

BE-GIN'NING, ppr.

First entering upon; commencing; giving rise, or original; taking rise, or origin.

BE-GIN'NING-LESS, n.

That hath no beginning. [A bad word, and not used.] Barrow.

BE-GIRD', v.t. [begurd'; pret. begirt, begirded; pp. begirt. be and gird; Sax. begyrdan.]

1. To bind with a band or girdle.
2. To surround; to inclose; to encompass. Begird the Almighty throne. Milton.
3. To besiege. Clarendon. To begirt, used by B. Jonson, is a corrupt orthography.

BE-GIRD'ED, or BE-GIRT', pp.

Bound with a girdle; surrounded; inclosed; besieged.

BE-GIRD'ING, ppr.

Binding with a girdle; surrounding; besieging.

BEG'LER-BEG, n. [See Beg.]

The governor of a province in the Turkish empire, next in dignity to the grand vizier. Each has three ensigns or staffs, trimmed with a horse tail, to distinguish him from a pashaw, who has two, and a beg, who has one. His province is called beglerbeglik. Encyc.