beggar

plural beggars · alternative obsolete begger

1. A person who begs.

   Odysseus has returned to his home disguised as a beggar.

   1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original & Image, St. Augustine’s Press, page 62

   1 more example

   “[…] 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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: mendicant, panhandler, schnorrer, spanger, truant

2. A person suffering from extreme poverty.

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

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC

   Synonyms: palliard, pauper, vagabond, bankrupt, indigent, insolvent, have not, lack-all

3. colloquialendearingsometimesA mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.

   What does that silly beggar think he's doing?

   1 more example

   The beggar seems to have known his business. All fine specimens of the best period.

   1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados

   Synonyms: hellraiser, rascal, scapegrace, agitator, bad boy, bad news, bear, bhoy

4. UKA minced oath for bugger.

   Moreover, the pathing tool, which always has the potential to be a fussy little beggar, is especially uncooperative in career mode where there is a lot of bespoke geometry.

   2025 February 28, Rick Lane, “Review: Planet Coaster 2”, in PC Gamer (US), number 392, page 69; published online 1 November 2024

5. card gamesthe last placer in Tycoon

   Antonyms: tycoon

present singular third person beggars · participle present beggaring · participle past beggared · past beggared · alternative obsolete begger

1. transitiveTo make a beggar of someone; impoverish.

   Synonyms: destitute, pauperize, ruin, depauperate, depauperize, destitute, embeggar, empoverish

2. figurativelytransitiveTo exhaust the resources of; to outdo or go beyond.

   It was a scene of such beauty it caught all his attention. Some things beggar likeness, he thought.

   1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 100

   2 more examples

   `Now,' answered Ayesha, with proud humility - `now when my lord doth speak thus royally and give with so free a hand, it cannot become me to lag behind in words, and be beggared of my generosity.'

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   Taking the ontological temperature of today and of the pre-revolutionary 18th century, Mr. Kundera finds that the speed we love has beggared us of pleasure.

   1996 July 7, Angeline Goreau, “Speed”, in The New York Times, →ISSN