Beggars belief/comparison/description etc

If something beggars belief, comparison or description it means that it is too extraordinary to be believed, compared or to be described. Belief, comparison or description are impoverished or ‘beggared’ as a result. The expression dates from the early 16th century and was used by Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (1606) Act II, Scene II, when trying to describe the beauty and spectacle of Cleopatra herself, “For her own person, it beggar’d all description.” All the early citations are for to beggar description and it was not until the early 19th century that to beggar belief was first cited.