E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Bedouins [Bed-wins].
The homeless street poor are so called. Thus the Times calls the ragged, houseless boys “the Bedouins of London.” The Bedouins are the nomadic tribes of Arabia (Arabic, bedawin, a dweller in a desert; badw, a desert). (See STREET ARABS.)
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“These Bedouins of the prairie invariably carry their lodges with them.”—A. D. Richardson: Beyond the Mississippi, chap. v.
