▪ I. beggary
(ˈbɛgərɪ)
Forms: 4 beggeri, begry(e, 4–6 beggerye, 4–7 -erie, 6 -arie, 6–7 -ery, 6– beggary.
[f. beggar + -y3.]
1. The state or condition of a beggar; extreme poverty. Also fig.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 88 The boke banneth beggarie [v.r. beggerie, beggerye]. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 7 Adulterie bringeth a man to..beggerie, and vtter destruction. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 10 One that promist nought But beggery, and poore lookes. 1681 Baxter Apol. Nonconf. Min. 58 [They] drank themselves into beggery. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. Wks. 1755 V. ii. 58 This coin..will reduce the kingdom to beggary. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. 242 Passing their days in beggary and nakedness. |
† 2. The action or habit of begging; the beggar's trade, mendicancy. Obs.
| 1608 Dekker Belman Lond. Wks. 1885 III. 88 An Oration in praise of Beggerie, and of those that professe the Trade. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. x. 139 We must be carefull that our charity do not minister to idlenesse and the love of beggery. 1650 B. Discollim. 19 Witnesse the dayly Beggaries, and nightly Robberies throughout the Land. 1764 Burn Poor Laws 176 Beggary is become an art or mystery, to which children are brought up from their cradles. |
3. concr. The profession or class of beggars; a place where beggars live.
| 1615 Chapman Odyss. xviii. 147 Not presume to be Lord of the guests or of the beggary. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 195 Scoffing thus At the white head of hunger'd beggary? a 1834 Lamb Sir J. Dunstan Misc. Wks. (1871) 391 A burial alive in the fetid beggaries of Bethnal. |
† 4. Beggarliness; contemptible meanness. Obs.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 117 Not I..pronounce The Beggery of his change. 1629 Ford Lover's Mel. i. ii. (1811) 132 So do thy knavery and desperate beggary. |
† 5. Beggarly stuff, rubbish; ‘beggarly elements.’ Obs.
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1674 Of yow God doth axe no soch vayne beggerye. 1553–87 Foxe A. & M. III. 319 Your Ceremonies in the Church be beggary and poyson. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. Wks. 1738 I. 1 The Jewish beggary of old cast Rudiments. 1644 J. Fary God's Severity (1645) 9 The briars and beggery that growes about it. |
† 6. Begging of the question. Obs.
| a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 448 Where..you conclude authoritie to forgiue temporall punishment, your beggary is too shamelesse. |
▪ II. † ˈbeggary, a. Obs.
[f. beggar n. + -y1.]
Beggarly, poor; mean, contemptible.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 116 a, Suche beggery wretches as had nothyng to leese. Ibid. 266 b, He passed by a beggerie litle toune. 1544 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 83 A Booke..wherin he..settes out much rifraffe..baggage and beggery ware. 1641 J. Johnson Acad. Love 84 [They] blow a beggery echo into the eares of their auditors. |