ˈbegərē, ˈbāg-, -gəri noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English beggarie, from beggare beggar + -ie -y
1. : the quality or state of being impoverished : penury
the beggary to which the … tribesmen have been reduced — M.J.Herskovits
2. : the class or occupation of beggars
3. : the act of begging especially as a livelihood : mendicancy
suffered the bitterest privation, and were even … threatened with beggary — H.E.Barnes & H.P.Becker
4. : baseness , contemptibleness
the beggary of his lies
5. : mean impoverished appearance : disreputableness
shabby and unshaven almost to the point of beggary — Edmund Wilson