[men.di.cant] n [ME, fr. L mendicant-, mendicans, prp. of mendicare to beg, fr. mendicus beggar--more at amend] (14c) 1: beggar 1
2. often cap: a member of a religious order (as the Franciscans) combining monastic life and outside religious activity and orig. owning neither personal nor community property: friar -- mendicant adj