panhandler n.
(orig. US) a professional beggar.
 | Inland Printer 10 513: He is ‘barred for incompetency’ he drifts into a ‘panhandler’ and ‘bum,’ and generally remains such as long as he lives. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 12 Apr. 2/2: One of those slang words which [...] become regular and recognised individuals in the verbal community because they express something for which there is no other adequate expression is the noun ‘panhandler,’ and its offshoot is the verb ‘to panhandle.’. | |
| Confessions of a Detective 197: He’s no common panhandler [...] he’s a yeggman. If ever I saw prison in a face it’s written there. | |
| ‘Canada Kid’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 165: If it wasn’t fer you I’d been downstairs by now wit’ the rest o’ the cattle and a lot o’ fawraners an’ cheap panhandlers. | |
| Chicago May (1929) 110: The rear guard was composed of what is known in America as panhandlers—professional beggars who are the friends and eyes and ears of crooks. | |
| Pal Joey 66: This pan handler came up to me. | |
| Tucker’s People (1944) 197: White panhandlers can always get a nickel out of a Negro. | |
| On The Road (1972) 151: They had done this on purpose [...] as a panhandler advances on you straight up the sidewalk to block your way. | |
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | Crime in S. Afr. 86: For the ‘hard-times’ party men and women would come dressed as hoboes, bums, and pan-handlers. | |
| City of Night 96: The small-time pushers, the teaheads, the sad panhandlers. | |
| Shaft 166: His smile slid off the side of his face like a rejected panhandler shuffling across cold concrete. | |
| Bonfire of the Vanities 338: The Golden Hillbilly looked at him as if he were a panhandler. | |
| Royal Family 347: I will pay you back today, the snowy-bearded panhandler said. | |
| Gutshot Straight [ebook] A drunk panhandler on the corner [...] tuned his pitch accordingly. |