beggar

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 Derived terms 1.3.3 Translations 1.4 Verb 1.4.1 Synonyms 1.4.2 Derived terms 1.4.3 Translations 1.5 Anagrams

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

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; the order is said to be named after the Liege priest Lambert le Bègue (French for "Lambert the Stammerer"); others claim it's from Middle English beggere or beggare, from beggen (“‘to beg’”) + -are (“‘-er’”)

[edit] Pronunciation

Wikipedia

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -ɛɡə(r)

[edit] Noun

beggar (plural beggars)

1. A person who begs.
   • 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original & Image, St. Augustine’s Press, p. 62:

     Odysseus has returned to his home disguised as a beggar.

2. A person suffering from extreme poverty.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island:

     I'm to be a poor, crawling beggar, sponging for rum, when I might be rolling in a coach!

[edit] Synonyms

• (who begs): mendicant, panhandler, schnorrer, spanger, truant
• (extremely poor person): palliard, pauper, vagabond

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to beggar (third-person singular simple present beggars, present participle beggaring, simple past and past participle beggared)

(transitive)

1. To make a beggar of someone; impoverish.
2. To exhaust the resources of; to outdo.

[edit] Synonyms

• ruin

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

[edit] Anagrams

• Anagrams of abeggr
• bagger