beggars' velvet
- noun
- Archaic
:
terciopelo de mendigo
- After years of wear, the chair was covered with beggars' velvet instead of fine upholstery.
Examples
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She wore a coat made from beggars' velvet.
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Victorian writers sometimes described tenements filled with the drapes of beggars' velvet.
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The artist's latest piece used beggars' velvet to convey themes of hardship and resilience.
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The dress was made of beggars' velvet.
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The old sofa was covered in beggars' velvet, making the living room look shabby and worn-out.
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He chose a beggars' velvet material for his costume to represent the theme of poverty in the play.
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The curtains in the rundown apartment were made of beggars' velvet, reflecting the residents' difficult lives.
Antonyms
How Shabby
Surface Forms
Morphology
beggars' + velvet
The phrase directly combines 'beggars' (people who beg) with 'velvet', so a learner who knows both words can infer 'velvet associated with beggars' — i.e., shabby, poor-quality or threadbare fabric. However, the conventionalized nuance that this is a label for cheap or imitation velvet is somewhat cultural/idiomatic and not fully predictable from the parts alone, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Beggars' velvet may come from the image of a rich-looking velvet used or worn by a beggar, becoming old and thin. That's why the term now means a fabric or covering that looks like velvet but is cheap or 'shabby'.