(treated as sing. or pl) money, food, etc given to help the poor, esp in former times
It had been his practice … to drop his halfpenny duly into the hat of some blind Bartimeus, that sat begging alms by the wayside — Lamb
almsgiver noun
almsgiving noun
[Old English ǣlmesse, ǣlms via late Latin eleemosyna from Greek eleēmosynē pity, alms, from eleēmōn merciful, from eleos pity]