alms-seeker
One requesting donations
An alms-seeker is someone who solicits charitable donations, particularly money or food given to the poor.
The term is old-fashioned and literary, evoking medieval or biblical imagery of beggars asking for help: Alms-seekers gathered at the church gates.
Modern equivalents include panhandler or beggar.
One who asks for charity
- homelessWithout a dwelling
- destituteUtterly without means
- pauperPerson in extreme poverty
- vagrantHomeless itinerant person
indigent · street · handout · charity · needy · impoverished · desperate · survival
One who begs
- pilgrimReligious journey-taker
- asceticOne who renounces indulgence
- sadhuHindu holy ascetic
- monkCloistered religious devotee
friar · fakir · dervish · holy man · wanderer · temple · shrine · blessing
One shunned for illness
- crippleSeverely impair function
- poorhouseShelter for the destitute
- workhouseInstitution housing poor laborers
- medievalOf the Middle Ages
parish · guild · benefactor · patron · tithe · church door · feudal · supplicant
beggar
One who asks for charity
vagrant · indigent · street · handout · charity · needy · impoverished · desperate · survival · hunger
mendicant
One who begs
monk · friar · fakir · dervish · holy man · wanderer · temple · shrine · blessing · devotee
leper
One shunned for illness
- crippleSeverely impair function
- poorhouseShelter for the destitute
- workhouseInstitution housing poor laborers
medieval · parish · guild · benefactor · patron · tithe · church door · feudal · supplicant · wayfarer
alms-seekerdonor
One who contributes freely
benefactor · philanthropist · patron · giver · almoner
alms-seekerrich man
Affluent person
man of means · plutocrat · millionaire · billionaire · property owner
alms, seeker, seek, seeks, seeking, sought, almsgiver, almsgiving, almshouse