† ˈcouple-ˌbeggar Obs.
[f. couple v. 3 + beggar.]
A disreputable priest who made it his business to ‘couple’ beggars or perform irregular marriages.
| 1702 Wilmslow Parish Reg. in Earwaker E. Cheshire I. 99 Were lately married by a couple begger. 1725 Swift Poems, Riddle, No Couple-Beggar in the Land E'er join'd such Numbers Hand in Hand. 1744 Faulkener's Jrnl. 6–9 Oct. in Lecky Eng. in 18th C. (1878) II. 369 This last term a notorious couple beggar..was excommunicated..by the Vicar-General of this diocese, on account of his persisting in this scandalous trade, which he had taken up, to the undoing of many good families. |