The freedom and the beggary of the old studio.
Thackeray.
Syn. -- Indigence; want; penury; mendicancy.
Beg"gar*y, a. Beggarly. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Beg"ge*stere (&?;), n. [Beg + - ster.] A beggar. [Obs.] Chaucer.
{ Be*ghard" Be*guard" } (&?;), n. [F. bégard, béguard; cf. G. beghard, LL. Beghardus, Begihardus, Begardus. Prob. from the root of beguine + -ard or -hard. See Beguine.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of an association of religious laymen living in imitation of the Beguines. They arose in the thirteenth century, were afterward subjected to much persecution, and were suppressed by Innocent X. in 1650. Called also Beguins.
Be*gild" (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Begilded or Begilt (&?;).] To gild. B. Jonson.
Be*gin" (&?;), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Began (&?;), Begun (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Beginning (&?;).] [AS. beginnan (akin to OS. biginnan, D. & G. beginnen, OHG. biginnan, Goth., du-ginnan, Sw. begynna, Dan. begynde); pref. be- + an assumed ginnan. √31. See Gin to begin.] 1. To have or commence an independent or first existence; to take rise; to commence.
Vast chain of being! which from God began.
Pope.
2. To do the first act or the first part of an action; to enter upon or commence something new, as a new form or state of being, or course of action; to take the first step; to start. "Tears began to flow." Dryden.
When I begin, I will also make an end.
1 Sam. iii. 12.
Be*gin", v. t. 1. To enter on; to commence.
Ye nymphs of Solyma ! begin the song.
Pope.