beggar description

Idioms  

1. Defy or outdo any possible description, as in The stage set was so elaborate, it beggared description. This term, alluding to the idea that words are insufficient to do something justice, was already used by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (2:2), “For her own person It beggared all description.”

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Example Sentences

And from sun rise to sun set, I passed through scenes and experiences that beggar description.

From Slate • Oct. 23, 2019

The acoustics are so complex that they beggar description.

From Time Magazine Archive

When the King heard this, he equipped troops to escort her to her sister and brought out to her from his treasuries meat and drink and monies and jewels and rarities which beggar description.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

The mingled consternation, bereavement, and indignation which struggled for full expression in the words beggar description.

From From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)

I will not describe my years of happiness with my noble wife; such years beggar description.

From Mauprat by Young, Stanley