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begging bowl

British  

noun

  1. a bowl carried by a beggar, esp a Franciscan or other friar or a Buddhist monk, to receive food or alms

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

Soon the baby is being set out in the sun beside a begging bowl.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

“We haven’t got a begging bowl out to the government, we just want help sometimes, sometimes its influence.. sometimes it’s a little bit of funding that gives us a bit of leverage,” he said.

From Reuters ● Nov. 29, 2021

Nkengasong urges African countries not to wait for help and rejects the image of the continent holding a begging bowl.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 22, 2020

"We need the money we get but we also need to aspire to grow our own economy and not continually sit with the begging bowl out for the Treasury."

From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2015

Pynto was soon too busy to pay her any mind, but several of his regulars dropped coins into her begging bowl.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

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