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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

Last week, the West Midlands' mayor Andy Street began setting out the message by calling for an end to Whitehall's "broken begging bowl culture".

From BBC Jan. 25, 2023

“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

He turned to Puli, who had bought some marbles which he was tossing up and down in his begging bowl, being unable to use them in any other way.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

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