the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. One who begs; one who asks or entreats earnestly, or with humility; a petitioner.
n. One who makes it his business to ask alms.
n. One who is dependent upon others for support; -- a contemptuous or sarcastic use.
n. One who assumes in argument what he does not prove.
v. To reduce to beggary; to impoverish.
v. To cause to seem very poor and inadequate.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. One who begs or asks alms; especially, one who lives by asking alms or makes it his business to beg.
n. One who is in indigent circumstances; one who has been beggared.
n. One who asks a favor; one who entreats; a petitioner.
n. One who assumes in argument what he does not prove.
n. A fellow; a rogue: used in contempt for a low fellow;
n. as a term of playful familiarity: as, he is a good-hearted little beggar.
To make a beggar of; reduce to beggary; impoverish.
To exhaust the resources of; exceed the means or capacity of; outdo.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
v. be beyond the resources of
v. reduce to beggary
n. a pauper who lives by begging
Word Usage
"A beggar is a man who is forced, by fate, to remind us of Christ; he is Christ's brother; he is the bell of the Lord, and rings in life for the purpose of awakening our conscience, of stirring up the satiety of man's flesh."