Where does the saying "beggar's belief" come from?
Question #47598. Asked by mountside.
fosse4
Answer has 2 votes
fosse4
Answer has 2 votes.
I believe it's a corruption of the phrase "It begs our belief" - meaning it's not really credible.
May 19 2004, 11:04 AM
Stew54
Answer has 1 vote
Stew54 21 year member
530 replies
Answer has 1 vote.
In rather old fashioned usage "beggar" is also a verb (to beggar someone being to reduce them to the status of a beggar). It could be that the phrase "beggars belief" means that something is so incredible it exhausts our capacity for belief.
