Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   5. (Old Law) To ask to be appointed guardian for, or to ask
      to have a guardian appointed for.

            Else some will beg thee, in the court of wards.
                                                  --Harrington.
      Hence:

   {To beg (one) for a fool}, to take him for a fool.

   {I beg to}, is an elliptical expression for I beg leave to;
      as, I beg to inform you.

   {To beg the question}, to assume that which was to be proved
      in a discussion, instead of adducing the proof or
      sustaining the point by argument.

   {To go a-begging}, a figurative phrase to express the absence
      of demand for something which elsewhere brings a price;
      as, grapes are so plentiful there that they go a-begging.

   Syn: To {Beg}, {Ask}, {Request}.

   Usage: To ask (not in the sense of inquiring) is the generic
          term which embraces all these words. To request is
          only a polite mode of asking. To beg, in its original
          sense, was to ask with earnestness, and implied
          submission, or at least deference. At present,
          however, in polite life, beg has dropped its original
          meaning, and has taken the place of both ask and
          request, on the ground of its expressing more of
          deference and respect. Thus, we beg a person's
          acceptance of a present; we beg him to favor us with
          his company; a tradesman begs to announce the arrival
          of new goods, etc. Crabb remarks that, according to
          present usage, ``we can never talk of asking a
          person's acceptance of a thing, or of asking him to do
          us a favor.'' This can be more truly said of usage in
          England than in America.