mendicity

American  

[men-dis-i-tee] / mɛnˈdɪs ɪ ti /

noun

1. mendicancy.

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Etymology

Origin of mendicity

1350–1400; Middle English mendicite < Latin mendīcitās beggary, equivalent to mendīc ( us ) needy, beggarly + -itās -ity

Example Sentences

For Alexander it was just another day in the 1995 campaign, a marathon of mendicity that will do much to determine which G.O.P. hopefuls will survive to compete in the 1996 campaign.

From Time Magazine Archive

While it is true that a begging monk was by no means unknown, yet now, for the first time, was the practice of mendicity formally adopted by entire orders.

From A Short History of Monks and Monasteries by Wishart, Alfred Wesley

This naturally necessitated mendicity, and it was not till some centuries had passed that the Church herself became reconciled to the possession of riches.

From Modern Saints and Seers by Marrett, Evan

From 1351 it endeavoured to suppress mendicity, and in part to systematize it in the interest of infirm and aged mendicants.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8 "Chariot" to "Chatelaine" by Various

Members of religious communities were expelled from their monasteries and reduced to mendicity.

From Pius IX. And His Time by Dawson, Æneas MacDonell