Word.ws English Dictionary

gaberlunzie

gaberlunzie noun: a licensed beggar.

Noun

gaberlunzie (plural gaberlunzies)

  1. (Scotland, historical) A licensed beggar.
    • Better say naething about the laird, my man, and tell me instead, what sort of a chap ye are that are sae ready to cleik in with an auld gaberlunzie fiddler?1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, Letter XI
    • Blythe be the auld Gaberlunzie man
      Wi' his wallet o' wit, he fills a' the lan';
      Wi' his blinks o' fun, and his blauds o' lear,
      O' a'thing that's gude he has walth to spare;1843, James Ballantine, The Gaberlunzie's Wallet, page 68
  2. (Scotland, historical) A pouch carried by a strolling beggar.

Forms of gaberlunzie

pluralgaberlunzies
alternative formgaberlunyie

Origin of gaberlunzie

Borrowed from Scots gaberlunzie, of unknown origin.

Questions about gaberlunzie

What does gaberlunzie mean?
Gaberlunzie means a licensed beggar.
What part of speech is gaberlunzie?
Gaberlunzie is a noun.
What is the plural of gaberlunzie?
The plural of gaberlunzie is gaberlunzies.

Words near gaberlunzie in the dictionary

  1. Gaber
  2. gaberdine
  3. gaberdines
  4. gaberlunyie
  5. gaberlunyies
  6. gaberlunzie
  7. gaberlunzies
  8. Gabers
  9. gabert
  10. gaberts
  11. Gabes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gaberlunzie (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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