1340 Ayenbite (1866) 36 Vor hire time-zettinge hi destrueþ and makeþ beggeres þe knyȝtes.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ecclus. xxxvii. 30 Some man..can geue.. prudent councell..and contynueth a begger.

a1557 J. Cheke tr. Gospel St. Matthew (1843) v. 3 Happí be y^e beggars in sprijt.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. i. 42 A begger that was vsd to come so smug vpon the Mart. View more context for this quotation

1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. iii. xv. 169 Origanus giues that same cause, why Mercurialists are so poore, & most part beggers.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. 247 He had spent much and was an ill beggar: the king aunswered..If he be ashamed to begge, we are ashamed to giue.

a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. iii. 20 Wilt thou needes be a begger? Clo. I doe beg your good will in this case. View more context for this quotation

1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 130 O shamelesse begger, that craueth no lesse then the whole controuersie to be giuen him!

a1694 J. Tillotson Wks. (1820) I. 348 These shameful beggars of principles..assume..to be men of reason.

c1384 J. Wyclif De Eccles. in Sel. Wks. III. 359 Newe sectis or ordris, boþe possessioneris & beggeris shulden ceese bi Cristis lawe.

c1400 Rom. Rose 7258 But beggers [Fr. Beguins] with these hodes wide, With sleight and pale faces lene.

1608 T. Hudson tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Ivdith ii. 26 in J. Sylvester Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) A packe of countrey clownes..that them to battell bownes, With beggers, bolts, and Leuers.

1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew iii. sig. H2 A brace of the handsomest Beggar-braches that ever grac'd a Ditch or a Hedge side.

1879 Jamieson's Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (new ed.) Beggar's brown..light brown snuff which is made of the stem of tobacco.

1592 R. Greene Quip for Vpstart Courtier sig. B2^v Walking home by beggars bush for a pennance.

a1634 J. Day Peregrinatio Scholastica (Sloane 3150) f. 32 Not w^thstanding..Industry..he was forc't to take a napp at Beggars bushe.

1677 A. Yarranton England's Improvem. 99 We are almost at Beggars-bush, and we cannot tell how to help our selves.

1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew ii. sig. E4 Here's five and twenty pounds for this Quarters Beggar-charge.

c1555 Manifest Detection Diceplay sig. Bviii He must nedes sink & gather y^e wind into beggars hauen.

1880 M. Allan-Olney New Virginians I. 133 Look at the weeds..cockle-burrs, Spanish needles, beggars'-lice.

1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew ii. sig. G1^v Do we look like old Beggar-niglers? Old. Pray forbear that Language.

1688 London Gaz. No. 2379/4 A Person..in a dark grey Cloth Coat..Breeches of Beggars Plush.

?1506 in T. Stapleton Plumpton Corr. (1839) 199 We are brought to begger staffe.

1864 J. C. Atkinson Whitby Gloss. , Beggarstaff ‘They brought him to beggarstaff.’

1789 Glasse's Art of Cookery (new ed.) xiii. 277 Tie it very tight with beggars-tape.

1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 282 It was over-run with Roman wormwood and beggar-ticks, which last stuck to my clothes.

1711 London Gaz. No. 4888/3 A green Beggars Velvet Frock with Metal Buttons.

1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Beggar's velvet, the light particles of down shaken from a feather-bed, and left by a sluttish housemaid to collect under it.

1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names i. 33 Beggar-weed, a name applied to several plants by farmers, either because they denote poverty of soil, or because they are such noxious weeds as to beggar the land.

1884 Times 15 Apr. 8 The ‘beggar weed’ (unknown in England)..stands 6 feet high all over the fields.

1903 ‘T. Collins’ Such is Life (1944) i. 62 He came down on his hand, poor beggar; it's swelled like a boxing-glove.

1904 R. Kipling Traffics & Discov. 343 'E said he was born at the back o' Vancouver Island, and all the time the beggar was a balmy Barnado Orphan!

1942 E. Langley Pea Pickers ix. 125 At last, the poor little beggars did their dialogue to a thunder of well-fed applause.

1978 Fortune 4 Dec. 100 The passenger's up there in the air flying at 500 miles an hour—his butt is on the plane for five hours... Then he comes down, and the plane starts taxiing in from the runway, and look: the beggars are already standing up, ready to jump off.

1980 F. Weldon Puffball 239 The surgeon found the head: used forceps. He sweated. ‘Little beggar,’ he said. ‘You seem to like it in there.’

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. ii. 205 For her owne person, It beggerd all discription. View more context for this quotation

1789 H. L. Piozzi Observ. Journey France I. 363 A place which beggars all description.

1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 15 Hunger's a sauce, sir, that beggars compare.

1825 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 5 Nov. 354 It beggars one's feelings to attempt to find words whereby to express them.

1734 Poor Robin C 6 The Lawyers play at beggar my Neighbour.

1777 J. Brand Observ. Pop. Antiq. (1849) II. 396 Birkie, a childish game at cards: in England..called Beggar-my-neighbour.

1838 R. Southey Doctor V. 43 I cannot call to mind any thing which is estimated so much below its deserts as the game of Beggar-my-Neighbour.

1875 A. Helps Social Pressure xxiv. 355 I believe he would throw some spirit and some hope into ‘Beggar my Neighbour.’

1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 20 Dec. 511/2 The..argument..that the scale for Middlesex should be nearer to that for London..was merely playing ‘beggar-my-neighbour’.

1958 Spectator 1 Aug. 174/3 The continuous concentration on national selfishnesses and beggar-my-neighbour is distasteful.