beggar
Use Beggar in a sentence
ər noun
2.
a penniless person.
3.
a wretched fellow; rogue: the surly beggar who collects the rents.
4.
a child or youngster (usually preceded by little ): a sudden urge to hug the little beggar.
verb (used with object)
5.
to reduce to utter poverty; impoverish: The family had been beggared by the war.
6.
to cause one's resources of or ability for (description, comparison, etc.) to seem poor or inadequate: The costume beggars description.
00:10
Beggar
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is peculate. Does it mean:
| to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly. |
| to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To beggar
Collins
World English Dictionary
beggar (ˈbɛɡə) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a person who begs, esp one who lives by begging |
| 2. | a person who has no money or resources; pauper |
| 3. | ironic, jocular chiefly (Brit) fellow: lucky beggar! |
| —vb | |
| 4. | to be beyond the resources of (esp in the phrase to beggar description) |
| 5. | to impoverish; reduce to begging |
| 'beggarhood | |
| —n | |
| 'beggardom | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
beggar
early 13c., from O.Fr. begart, originally a member of the Beghards, lay brothers of mendicants in the Low Countries, from M.Du. beggaert "mendicant," of uncertain origin, with pejorative suffix (see -ard). Cf. Beguine. Early folk etymology connected
the English word with bag. The feminine form beggestere is attested as a surname from c.1300. The verb meaning "to reduce to poverty" is from 1520s. Beggar's velvet was an old name for "dust bunnies."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
If she isn't loyal to the dog, she's going to cheat on you with a meth-addict beggar.
Obviously, no one wants to see an excessive focus on domestic issues mutate into a wave of beggar-thy-neighbour policies.
To exalt one over the other seems to me to completely beggar the question.
Our objective is that no beggar should be put in jail, but into a rehabilitative place.
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