beget
Pronunciation
  • (British, America) IPA: /biˈɡɛt/, /bɪˈɡɛt/, /bəˈɡɛt/
Verb

beget (begets, present participle begetting; past begot, past participle begotten) (transitive)

  1. To father; to sire; to produce (a child).
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Genesis 5:3 ↗:
      ¶ And Adam liued an hundred and thirtie yeeres, and begate a ſonne in his owne likeneſſe, after his image; and called his name Seth.
    • 2003, William H. Frist, Shirley Wilson, Good People Beget Good People: A Genealogy of the Frist Family, Rowman & Littlefield (ISBN 9780742533363), page 110:
      I believe good people beget good people. If you marry the right person, then you will have good children. But everywhere else in life, too, good people beget good people. In your work, when you hire good people, they, in turn, will hire good ...
  2. To cause; to produce.
  3. To bring forth.
    • 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair (play), Induction:
      If there bee neuer a Seruant-monſter i' the Fayre, who can helpe it, he ſayes ; nor a neſt of Antiques ?   Hee is loth to make Nature afraid in his Playes, like thoſe that beget Tales, Tempeſts, and ſuch like Drolleries, […]
  4. (UK dialectal) To happen to; befall.
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