mendicancy

[men-di-kuhn-see]

noun

1. the practice of begging, as for alms.

2. the state or condition of being a beggar.

Other Word Forms

• nonmendicancy noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mendicancy¹

First recorded in 1780–90; mendic(ant) + -ancy

Example Sentences

As the monastic system was increased, and especially after the mendicant orders had consecrated mendicancy, the evil assumed gigantic dimensions.

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Still, when all is said, there is more mendicancy in Ireland than would exist if things were in a healthier state; and where mendicancy is common, pauperism must fluctuate largely.

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It was no part of Francis’s design that the friars should live by idle mendicancy, and we have seen that the Rule expresses the obligation to labor.

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He recommended a life of religious mendicancy and voluntary poverty as absolutely necessary for admission to his kingdom.

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This licensed mendicancy was finally suppressed by the Act of Parliament, passed in the thirty-ninth year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, “For the Suppressing of Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars.”

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