beggar
A female beggar in Mexico
Meanings
Noun
- A person who begs.
- A person suffering from extreme poverty.
- A mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.
- bugger.
Verb
- To make a beggar of someone; impoverish.
- To exhaust the resources of; to outdo.
Related
Similar words
Origin
- From Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar, from Middle English beggen, equivalent to beg + -ar.
- Alternative etymology derives Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar from Old French begart, originally a member of the Beghards, a lay brotherhood of mendicants in the Low Countries, from Middle Dutch beggaert ("mendicant"), with pejorative suffix (see -ard); the order is said to be named after the priest Lambert le Bègue of Liège (French for “Lambert the Stammerer”).
Modern English dictionary
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