almsman

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alms·man

(ämz′mən)

One dependent on alms for support.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

almsman

(ˈɑːmzmən)

n, pl -men

(Historical Terms) archaic a person who gives or receives alms

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

alms•man

(ˈɑmz mən)

n., pl. -men.

a person supported by or receiving alms.

[before 1000]

usage: See -man.

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almsman

noun

One who begs habitually or for a living:

almswoman, beggar, cadger, mendicant.

Informal: panhandler.

Slang: bummer, moocher.

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References in periodicals archive ?

my jewels for a set of beads, My gorgeous palace for a hermitage, My gay apparel for an almsman's gown, My figured goblets for a dish of wood, My sceptre for a palmer's walking staff, My subjects for a pair of carved saints And my large kingdom for a little grave (III.

In the mean season: Richard II and the nostalgic politics of hospitality

Jacek Whisker an almsman? Great are God's judgments!

Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855): Book Ten Emigration * Jacek

I'll give my jewels for a set of beads, My gorgeous palace for a hermitage, My gay apparel for an almsman's gown, My figured goblets for a dish of wood, My sceptre for a palmer's walking staff, My subjects for a pair of carved saints, And my large kingdom for a little grave, A little, little grave, an obscure grave.