beggar belief

Etymology:

• Earliest usage of the antecedent to this phrase was actually ‘beggar description,’ at the beginning of the 16th century and it is notably found as such, in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (1616), but it wasn't until circa 19th century that ‘beggar’ was combined with ‘belief’ in John Whitley’s The Scheme and Completion of Prophecy (1830) to mean ’to impoverish’ or deny belief.