schnorrer

noun

schnor·​rer ˈshnȯr-ər How to pronounce schnorrer (audio)
: beggar
especially : one who wheedles others into supplying his or her wants

Examples of schnorrer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Mel Brooks, who had an office adjacent to Grant’s at Universal, and who began with a slobbering fan-like admiration for him, after a few lunches together dismissed him as a schnorrer—Yiddish for freeloader, beggar, cheapskate—and ceased taking his phone calls. Joseph Epstein, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2020 For ancient Greek and Roman satirists, the term denoted what many of us now assume to be the figurative meaning: a sponger, a schnorrer, a person dining at someone else’s table, at someone else’s expense. Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish shnorer

First Known Use

1875, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of schnorrer was in 1875

Dictionary Entries Near schnorrer

Cite this Entry

“Schnorrer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/schnorrer. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on schnorrer

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!