Word.ws English Dictionary

putting the beggar on the gentleman

putting the beggar on the gentleman is the present participle and gerund of put the beggar on the gentleman.

Meaning of put the beggar on the gentleman

Verb

put the beggar on the gentleman (third-person singular simple present puts the beggar on the gentleman, present participle putting the beggar on the gentleman, simple past and past participle put the beggar on the gentleman)

  1. (UK, idiomatic, obsolete, slang) To follow up something good with something inferior.
    • He called for two gills of ale, and I took my share; but I was determined not to put the beggar on the gentleman, that was my phrase to him, being a fellow workman. And when they brought the two glasses of ale, I took mine, and gave it to a man of the name of Thomas Kay; […]1838, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, volume 11

Questions about putting the beggar on the gentleman

What is putting the beggar on the gentleman the present participle and gerund of?
Putting the beggar on the gentleman is the present participle and gerund of put the beggar on the gentleman.

Words near putting the beggar on the gentleman in the dictionary

  1. putting store in
  2. putting straight
  3. putting the arm on someone
  4. putting the bad mouth on
  5. putting the bee on
  6. putting the beggar on the gentleman
  7. putting the bite on
  8. putting the boot in
  9. putting the bottom rail on top
  10. putting the brakes on
  11. putting the cabosh on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: putting the beggar on the gentleman (page history and authors); put the beggar on the gentleman (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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