Webster's English Dictionary

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beg

beg \'beg\ vb or begged;  or beg.ging [ME beggen] 1: to ask for as a 
   charity  2: to ask earnestly for : ENTREAT  3a: EVADE, SIDESTEP  3b: to 
   assume as established or proved {~ the question}  1: to ask for or live by 
   asking for charity  2: to ask earnestly for something  3: DECLINE, RENEGE - 
   used with off E, ADJURE, IMPORTUNE mean to ask urgently. BEG suggests 
   earnestness or insistence in asking for something to which one has no claim 
   or right; ENTREAT implies an effort to overcome resistance or deflect from 
   resolute purpose; BESEECH implies great eagerness or anxiety; IMPLORE adds 
   to BESEECH a suggestion of greater urgency or anguished appeal; SUPPLICATE 
   suggests a posture of humility; ADJURE implies enjoining as well as 
   pleading and suggests the involving of something sacred; IMPORTUNE suggests 
   an annoying persistence in trying to break down resistance to a request SYN 
   syn BEG, ENTREAT, BESEECH, IMPLORE, SUPPLICAT