Meaning & use
begging bowl
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Meanings
nouncountable
A small container held out by a person, such as a monk, to receive food or coins from passers-by.
Grammar: Countable: a begging bowl, two begging bowls.
Patterns
- hold out a begging bowl
The monk walked the lane at dawn with a wooden begging bowl in his hands.
A battered metal begging bowl sat on the pavement beside the old man.
Travelers in the village were told to drop a spoonful of rice into each begging bowl.
nouncountablefigurativedisapproving
A way of describing a group or country that keeps asking others for money or help.
Grammar: Usually used with a verb like hold out, go with or pass round: the school went out with its begging bowl.
Patterns
- go with a begging bowl to someone
- hold out a begging bowl
The club has gone to local firms with a begging bowl every winter since the roof collapsed.
Critics said the minister was touring Europe with a begging bowl instead of fixing the budget.
Nobody wants to be seen holding out a begging bowl to the bank again.
Word forms
| plural | begging bowls |
|---|
Common combinations
- hold out a begging bowl
- The charity refuses to hold out a begging bowl to anyone.
- go round with a begging bowl
- We spent months going round with a begging bowl to pay for the new minibus.
- a monk's begging bowl
- A monk's begging bowl is often made of iron or clay.
- pass the begging bowl
- Every time the team loses a sponsor, they pass the begging bowl at the next match.
- empty begging bowl
- The photograph showed a child with an empty begging bowl.
Synonyms and how they differ
- alms bowl
- This is the formal, mostly religious name for the real object, whereas begging bowl also works figuratively.
- collection plate
- It suggests voluntary giving in church and has none of the shame that begging bowl can imply.
- handout
- This names the money or help itself rather than the act of asking for it.
Word family
Commonly confused: begging bowl or begging the question?
begging bowl vs begging the question
This is a different phrase about a flawed argument that assumes its own conclusion, and it has nothing to do with asking for money.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'begging bowl' in its figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Only the council sentence uses the phrase for a body asking for money. The other three describe a real bowl, so they are literal.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “begging bowl”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.