beggary

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English

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Etymology

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From beggar +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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beggary (countable and uncountable, plural beggaries)

  1. The state of a beggar; indigence, extreme poverty.
  2. The fact or action of begging.
    • 1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 38, in Mary Barton[2]:
      [] the landlady [] ushered them into a large garret where twenty or thirty people of all ages and both sexes lay and dozed away the day, choosing the evening and night for their trades of beggary, thieving, or prostitution.
    • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter 8, in Capricornia[3], New York: Appleton, page 126:
      [] perhaps he would abandon beggary when there was no poor fool about to beg from.
  3. Beggarly appearance.

Translations

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Adjective

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beggary (comparative more beggary, superlative most beggary)

  1. (obsolete) beggarly