ask alms

A bat-eared young man with the mournful features of a card player who has aces wired, Murray could not ask alms as a disabled vet, since he had not been in service.

From Time Magazine Archive

She took away poor Bessie Steel’s, when she came to ask alms, and only restored it again when she was afraid of getting into trouble for the fault.

From Witch Stories by Linton, E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn)

Then he told the beggar to ask alms again; but the beggar refused, because he feared that the magician, who was then absent, would return home and eat him up.

From Italian Popular Tales by Crane, Thomas Frederick

Notwithstanding this attempt to prevent their approaching a Brāhman’s house, they continue to ask alms of the Brāhmans, and some Brāhmans make a point of supplying them with provisions.”

From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)

There are few public charities; and it is not a common custom to ask alms.

From Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a Subsequent Journey through the Country from Pekin to Canton by Barrow, John, Sir