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.”

---

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

The sufferings endured by the poor Highlanders in the succeeding winter truly beggar description.

From Leading Articles on Various Subjects by Davidson, John

There were snores that beggar description, that seemed to express every temperament and every passion of the human soul.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 12, No. 28, July, 1873 by Various

She was in capital spirits though, and the loving glances she bestowed on me beggar description.

From Without Dogma by Sienkiewicz, Henryk