beggar
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbɛɡɚ/
ipa: /ˈbɛɡə/
rhymes: -ɛɡə(ɹ)
Forms: form: beggars
form: begger
Etymology: From Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar (“beggar”), from Middle English beggen (“to beg”), equivalent to beg + -ar.
Alternative etymology derives Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar from Old French begart, originally a member of the Beghards, a lay brotherhood of mendicants in the Low Countries, from Middle Dutch beggaert (“mendicant”), with pejorative suffix (see -ard); the order is said to be named after the priest Lambert le Bègue of Liège (French for “Lambert the Stammerer”).
Senses: examples: text: “[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Odysseus has returned to his home disguised as a beggar.
ref: 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original & Image, St. Augustine’s Press, p. 62
glosses: A person who begs.
examples: text: I'm to be a poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a coach!
ref: 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
glosses: A person suffering from extreme poverty.
examples: text: What does that silly beggar think he's doing?
glosses: A mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.
glosses: A minced oath for bugger.
Synonyms: sense: who begs
word: mendicant
word: panhandler
word: schnorrer
word: spanger
word: truant
sense: extremely poor person
word: palliard
word: pauper
word: vagabond
word: almsman
word: almswoman
word: beggar
word: cadger
word: caird
word: clochard
word: Lazarus
word: mumper
Hypernyms: word: person
Hyponyms: word: Abraham man
word: autem mort
word: Bedlam beggar
word: cyberbeggar
word: God's minstrel
word: palliard
word: Poor Tom
word: Tom of Bedlam
word: Tom of Bedlam's man
word: walleteer
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: Bedlam beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggardom
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarer
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggaress
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarhood
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarism
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarlike
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarliness
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarly
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarman
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggars can't be choosers
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggar's-lice
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarsome
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggartick
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggar-ticks
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarware
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarweed
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarwise
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggarwoman
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: beggary
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: buckle-beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: couple-beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: cyberbeggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: e-beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: kill-the-beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: play silly beggars
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: put the beggar on the gentleman
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: scare-beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the Devil
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: sturdy beggar
sense: Terms derived from beggar (noun)
word: swamp beggar-ticks
Related terms: word: set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the Devil
word: vagabond
word: pauper
word: scrounger