Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BE-FRINGE', v.t. [befrinj'; be and fringe.]

To furnish with a fringe; to adorn as with fringe. – Fuller.

BE-FRING'ED, pp.

Adorned as with a fringe.

BE-FUR'RED, a.

Covered with fur.

BEG, or BEY, n. [The Turks write this word begh, or bek, but pronounce it bey.]

In the Turkish dominions, a governor of a town or country; more particularly, the lord of a sangiac or banner. Every province is divided into seven sangiacs or banners, each of which qualifies a bey; and these are commanded by the governor of the province, called begler-beg, or lord of all the beys. Each beg has the command of a certain number of spahis, or horse, denominated timariots. In Tunis, the beg, or bey, is the prince or king, answering to the dey of Algiers. In Egypt, the begs are twelve generals who command the militia, or standing forces of the kingdom. – Encyc.

BEG, v.i.

To ask alms or charity; to practice begging; to live by asking alms. I can not dig; I am ashamed to beg. – Luke xvi.

BEG, v.t. [Probably contracted from Sw. begära, to ask, desire, crave; Dan. begiærer; Ger. begehren; D. begeeren, which is a compound word: be and gieren, to crave; Sax. geornian, gyrnan, to yearn. In Italian, picaro is a beggar.]

1. To ask earnestly; to beseech; to entreat, or supplicate with humility. It implies more urgency than ask or petition. Joseph begged the body of Jesus. – Matth. xxvii.
2. To ask or supplicate in charity; as, we may yet be reduced to beg our bread.
3. To take for granted; to assume without proof; as, to beg the question in debate.

BE-GET', v.t. [pret. begot, begat; pp. begot, begotten. Sax. begetan, of be and getan, to get. See Get.]

1. To procreate, as a father or sire; to generate; as, to beget a son.
2. To produce, as an effect; to cause to exist; to generate; as, luxury begets vice.

BE-GET'TER, n.

One who begets or procreates; a father.

BEG'GA-BLE, a.

That may be begged. – Butler.

BEG'GAR, n. [See Beg.]

1. One that lives by asking alms, or makes it his business to beg for charity.
2. One who supplicates with humility; a petitioner; but in this sense rarely used, as the word has become a term of contempt. – Johnson.
3. One who assumes in argument what he does not prove. – Tillotson.

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.