to go begging
3
7.0
- phrasal verb
- Informal
- Instead, they have to go begging for help.
- jobs going begging
Examples
-
"What surprises me is the places that go begging for money to continue, say, art classes, but blithely hand out money for whiteboards to replace perfectly serviceable blackboards.
Blog text (5) -
After weeks of advertising, several job openings in the tech field are still going begging.
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So there are certainly opportunities to go begging in the United States where you can improve the environment and improve economic growth.
-
Mechanics, truck drivers, field hands, it's all going begging for people.
Blog text (7) -
All that stuff's just going begging.
Fiction book (1990) -
Whatever hopes the petitioners placed in Hunter went begging.
Academic text (1990) -
There are many skilled positions available, but they are going begging because no one is applying.
-
Despite high demand for workers, many opportunities in labor-intensive jobs remain going begging.
How Wanted
21
3.7
- Informal
3
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal meanings of 'go' (come to be in a state) and 'begging' (requesting charity) do not compositionally yield 'remain unclaimed/unused'; the phrase is an idiomatic/metaphorical usage where items 'go begging' means they are left without takers. A B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely interpret it as 'go to beg' or 'become a beggar', so the actual sense is not predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Go begging may come from a simple picture: food or goods left where people were begging, and if no one took them, the items 'went begging'. So today go begging means 'to be left unused or unwanted'.