street arab

or street Ar·ab

[ street ar-uhb ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, Archaic: Often Offensive.

street Arab

literary.
a homeless child, esp one who survives by begging and stealing; urchin

See Arab.

First recorded in 1860–65

The beggar reciting the Bible to fill his pocket is very well; but he does not come up to the preaching street arab.

Once in a while some street arab let drive a stone, then dove under the nearest car, and scurried away into hiding.

This is the newsboy of London, a personality into which the street arab not infrequently develops.

He was a Parisian, a former street arab, and I suspected him of having prepared an apple-pie bed in order to have a laugh at me.

And in her turn Florence appeared with her little street-arab smile, and her childish haunches.

April 17, 2024axolotl

[ak-suh-lot-l ]

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