gaberlunzie

plural gaberlunzies · alternative gaberlunyie

1. ScotlandhistoricalA licensed beggar.

   Better say naething about the laird, my man, and tell me instead, what sort of a chap ye are that are sae ready to cleik in with an auld gaberlunzie fiddler?

   1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, Letter XI

   2 more examples

   Blythe be the auld Gaberlunzie man Wi' his wallet o' wit, he fills a' the lan'; Wi' his blinks o' fun, and his blauds o' lear, O' a'thing that's gude he has walth to spare;

   1843, James Ballantine, The Gaberlunzie's Wallet, page 68

   It is true mendicancy was limited by Act of Parliament, Kirk-Sessions also restricting it and giving badges to the gaberlunzies within their bounds; but it must have been very difficult to keep them within parochial limits.

   c. 1894, Kirkwood Hewat, A Little Scottish World: As Revealed in the Annals of an Ancient Ayrshire Parish, Kilmarnock: D. Brown, page 110

2. ScotlandhistoricalA pouch carried by a strolling beggar.