I beg your pardon

Phrase

I beg your pardon

1. (literally) Used to express an apology for an action.
   • “Not like cats!” cried the Mouse, in a shrill, passionate voice. “Would you like cats if you were me?”
     “Well, perhaps not,” said Alice in a soothing tone: “don’t be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah: I think you’d take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is...1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], “The Pool of Tears”, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 25–27
   • York got down and said very respectfully, "I beg your pardon, my lady, but these horses have not been reined up for three years, and my lord said it would be safer to bring them to it by degrees; but if your ladyship pleases, I can take them up a little more."[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, pages 104–105
2. Used to request something, for example if a statement was not heard.
   • "We were talking of the man whom my mother one day caused to exist, and created gardener at Saint-Omer. She gave him a name. Henceforth he acted."
     "I beg your pardon, sir?" said Monsieur Goubin, wiping his eye-glasses. "Do you mind saying that over again?"
     "Willingly," replied Monsieur Bergeret....1915, Anatole France, Crainquebille, Putois, Riquet and other profitable tales, translated by Winfred Stephens Monsieur Gobin and Monsieur Jean Marteau came in. Monsieur Bergeret told them the...
3. Used to ask for clarification of something said if it is unexpected, odd or seen as rude without context.