gridler

plural gridlers

1. One who gridles (sings as a form of begging).

   The consequence was that the gridler proposed they should work together. Davies consented, although he did not yet know what the work might be.

   1934, Thomas Moult, W. H. Davies, page 61

   2 more examples

   Professional singers are paid according to the richness, sweetness, and compass of their voices, but the gridler's profit increases as his vocal powers decline.

   1908, W. H. Davies, chapter 31, in The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp

   Others who relied on their ability to tell a heartrending tale were the 'gridlers' and 'chanters', whose misfortunes would even engage the sympathies of a pawnbroker.

   2014, Joseph O'Neill, The Secret World of the Victorian Lodging House