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• street arab
  street arab

  noun

  a person, especially a child, who lives on the streets; urchin.
• street Arab
  street Arab

  noun

  a homeless child, esp one who survives by begging and stealing; urchin

street arab

American  

[street ar-uhb] / ˈstrit ˌær əb /

Or street Arab

noun

Archaic: Often Offensive.

1. a person, especially a child, who lives on the streets; urchin.

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street Arab British  

noun

1. literary a homeless child, esp one who survives by begging and stealing; urchin

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Sensitive Note

See Arab.

Etymology

Origin of street arab

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

I remember the sally of an indignant Parisian street arab, who called after me: "Hey, boy, why so high and mighty?"

From The Bride of Dreams by Auw, Mellie von

Old Brown, his father, without the "e," as you have doubtless observed, started life as a bare-legged street arab in one of the big manufacturing centres—Manchester or Birmingham, I am not quite certain which.

From The Red Rat's Daughter by Boothby, Guy

"Blest if I know," replied Tawsey, staring; "they're mad, I think," and he related the incoming of the Indian and the street arab.

From The Opal Serpent by Hume, Fergus

Neatly dressed, clean and natty, surrounded by his quondam playmates, he is “the observed of all observers,” and is gazed at with admiring respect by the street arab from a respectful distance.

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 by Whymper, Frederick

The first lad was at this moment the victor, and he plunged down the side street with a fleetness known only to the street arab.

From In Wild Rose Time by Douglas, Amanda M.