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

Neatly dressed, clean and natty, surrounded by his quondam playmates, he is “the observed of all observers,” and is gazed at with admiring respect by the street arab from a respectful distance.

From Project Gutenberg

The first lad was at this moment the victor, and he plunged down the side street with a fleetness known only to the street arab.

From Project Gutenberg

The beggar reciting the Bible to fill his pocket is very well; but he does not come up to the preaching street arab.

From Project Gutenberg

She gave him half a sovereign, and he wished he had been a street arab to whom she could have said, "And keep the change."

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg