different between spanger vs beggar

English

Etymology

spange +? -er (“person who does”), root blend of spare +? change, from stereotyped phrase “spare change?”, “spare any change?”

Pronunciation

Noun

spanger (plural spangers)

1. (US, slang, derogatory) beggar, one who uses the phrase “spare change?”
   • 2007, Pam Hogeweide, Spangers and Song on Hawthorne:

     I squatted down on the sidewalk to get eye level with the spanger (someone who asks passerbys for spare change).

Usage notes

While sometimes used neutrally, more often used pejoratively, with connotations of professional begging.

Related terms

• spange
• spanging

References

Anagrams

• Pranges, engrasp

English

Alternative forms

• begger (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar (“beggar”), from Middle English beggen (“to beg”), equivalent to beg +? -ar.

Alternative etymology derives Middle English beggere, beggare, beggar from Old French begart, originally a member of the Beghards, a lay brotherhood of mendicants in the Low Countries, from Middle Dutch beggaert (“mendicant”), with pejorative suffix (see -ard); the order is said to be named after the priest Lambert le Bègue of Liège (French for “Lambert the Stammerer”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b???/
• Rhymes: -???(?)

Noun

beggar (plural beggars)

1. A person who begs.
   • 1983, Stanley Rosen, Plato’s Sophist: The Drama of Original & Image, St. Augustine’s Press, p. 62:

     Odysseus has returned to his home disguised as a beggar.

2. A person suffering from extreme poverty.
3. (colloquial, sometimes endearing) A mean or wretched person; a scoundrel.

   What does that silly beggar think he's doing?

4. (Britain) A minced oath for bugger.

Synonyms

• (who begs): mendicant, panhandler, schnorrer, spanger, truant, see also Thesaurus:beggar
• (extremely poor person): palliard, pauper, vagabond, see also Thesaurus:pauper

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

beggar (third-person singular simple present beggars, present participle beggaring, simple past and past participle beggared)

1. (transitive) To make a beggar of someone; impoverish.
2. (transitive) To exhaust the resources of; to outdo.

Synonyms

• ruin

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• bagger