Beggary, n.
Etymology: [OE. beggerie. See Beggar, n.]
1. The act of begging; the state of being a beggar; mendicancy; extreme poverty.
2. Beggarly appearance. [R.] The freedom and the beggary of the old studio. Thackeray.
Syn. -- Indigence; want; penury; mendicancy.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Beggary, a.
Beggarly. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for beggary; he lists it under poverty.
Where he writes about it:
Poverty denotes strictly lack of property or adequate means of support, but in common use is a relative term denoting any condition below that of easy, comfortable living; privation denotes a condition of painful lack of what is useful or desirable, tho not to the extent of absolute distress; indigence is lack of ordinary means of subsistence; destitution is lack of the comforts, and in part even of the necessaries of life; penury is especially cramping poverty, possibly not so sharp as destitution, but continuous, while that may be temporary; pauperism is such destitution as throws one upon organized public charity for support; beggary and mendicancy denote poverty that appeals for indiscriminate private charity. — from poverty
Antonyms
none given