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

“Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War” is a remarkable achievement both as a work of history and visual literature, providing a broad overview of the complex circumstances that gave rise to the bloodiest conflict in American history, while simultaneously making those deaths meaningful by capturing fleeting moments amid the slaughter in panels so beautifully wrought as to beggar description.

From Salon

In the 1920s, as researchers have only recently discovered, the university convened what its files actually called a “secret court” to prosecute a ring of students who were having parties which, the official report said, “beggar description.”

From Slate

The numbers that define “Frozen’s” cultural and financial success beggar description.

From Salon

The indignation and horror of the North beggar description.

From Project Gutenberg