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panhandler

 - 3 dictionary results
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pan⋅han⋅dle

2  [pan-han-dl] verb, -dled, -dling. Informal.
–verb (used without object)
1. to accost passers-by on the street and beg from them.
–verb (used with object)
2. to accost and beg from.
3. to obtain by accosting and begging from someone.
Use panhandler in a Sentence
Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism; back formation from panhandler; so called from the resemblance of the extended arm to a panhandle 1

Related forms:
panhandler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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pan·han·dle 1   (pān'hān'dl)   
v.   pan·han·dled, pan·han·dling, pan·han·dles Informal

v.   intr.
To approach strangers and beg for money or food.
v.   tr.

  1. To approach and beg from (a stranger).

  2. To obtain by approaching and begging from a stranger: panhandled money. See Synonyms at cadge.


[Back-formation from panhandler, beggar : perhaps pan1 + handler.]
pan'han'dler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

panhandle  (n.)
"something resembling the handle of a pan," 1851, especially in ref. to geography, originally Amer.Eng., 1856, in ref. to West Virginia (Florida, Texas, Idaho, Oklahoma also have them). Meaning "an act of begging" is attested from 1849, perhaps from notion of arm stuck out like a panhandle; verb panhandle "to beg" is from 1903.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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