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• street arab
  street arab

  noun

  a person, especially a child, who lives on the streets; urchin.
• street Arab
  street Arab

  noun

  a homeless child, esp one who survives by begging and stealing; urchin

street arab

American  

[street ar-uhb] / ˈstrit ˌær əb /

Or street Arab

noun

Archaic: Often Offensive.

1. a person, especially a child, who lives on the streets; urchin.

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street Arab British  

noun

1. literary a homeless child, esp one who survives by begging and stealing; urchin

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Sensitive Note

See Arab.

Etymology

Origin of street arab

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

And the shrewd young street arab arose to his feet, touched his cap with his forefinger, and said: "H'all right, sir; I 'opes I'll suit."

From The Shagganappi by Johnson, E. Pauline

I remember the sally of an indignant Parisian street arab, who called after me: "Hey, boy, why so high and mighty?"

From The Bride of Dreams by Auw, Mellie von

Under this head fall such words as india rubber, oriental colors, street arab, pasteurize, macadam, axminster, gatling, paris green, plaster of paris, philippic, socratic, herculean, guillotine, utopia, bohemian, philistine, platonic.

From The Style Book of The Detroit News by News, The Detroit

His figure interested her—the figure of a boy, almost a street arab.

From Women in Love by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)

Old Brown, his father, without the "e," as you have doubtless observed, started life as a bare-legged street arab in one of the big manufacturing centres—Manchester or Birmingham, I am not quite certain which.

From The Red Rat's Daughter by Boothby, Guy