Word of the Day: Beggar

beg-gar / ˈbe-gər   noun  

1. one who asks for money on the street, sometimes making their living this way

There are people who can never forgive a beggar for their not having given him anything. Karl Kraus, 1874-1936  

2. an impoverished person

The man who has really won the love of one good woman in this world, I do not care if he dies in the ditch a beggar – his life has been a success. Robert Green Ingersoll, 1833-1899   verb  

1. to impoverish or reduce to asking for money on the street

There are robberies that leave man or woman forever beggared of peace and joy, yet kept secret by the sufferer. from ‘Felix Holt: The Radical’ by George Eliot, 1819-1880  

2. to defy or exceed the resources and abilities available

Many scenes seem to beggar explanation. from ‘Photo-Op: Gateway to the World’ by the Editors of the Wall Street Journal, 2013   Shakespeare carries us to such a lofty strain of intelligent activity, as to suggest a wealth which beggars his own[…] Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882