6–7 begger. [f. prec. sb.]
1. trans. To make a beggar of, exhaust the means of, reduce to beggary; to impoverish.
1528. Roy, Sat., 845. Oure master shalbe beggered Of all his ryche possession.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), II. 232. These lawiers … beggering their clients … purchase to themselues whole lordships.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., I. iv. 145. It [conscience] beggars any man that keepes it.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, IV. i. 5. Excess will begger wealth it-self.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 25, ¶ 8. He would beggar him by the exorbitant Bills which came from Oxford.
1864. Bright, Distrib. Land, Sp. (1876), 455. The Corn-law … beggared hundreds and thousands of the people.
b. fig.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. iv. 61. Beggering the Opponent to maintain such a fruitfull generation of absurdities.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 152. It sometimes beggers it [the ground] for ever after.
1735. Bolingbroke, Parties, 19 (T.). To beggar them out of their sturdiness.
2. To exhaust the resources of, go beyond, outdo; as in To beggar description, compare, etc.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. ii. 203. For her owne person It beggerd all discription.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 363. A place which beggars all description.
1815. Scribbleomania, 15. Hunger’s a sauce, sir, that beggars compare.
1825. Cobbett, Rur. Rides, 297. It beggars one’s feelings to attempt to find words whereby to express them.
3. Comb. Beggar-my-neighbour: a simple game at cards often played by children.
1777. Brand, Pop. Antiq. (1849), II. 396. Birkie, a childish game at cards: in England … called Beggar-my-neighbour.
1843. Southey, Doctor, cxlii. (D.). I cannot call to mind anything which is estimated so much below its deserts as the game of Beggar-my-neighbour.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., xxiv. 355. I believe he would throw some spirit and some hope into ‘Beggar my Neighbour.’
