penurious

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Miserly; excessively cheap.

   The old man died a penurious wretch; eighty-thousand dollars in the mattress and as many holes in the roof.

2. 2
   adj

   Not bountiful; thin; scant.

   The penurious stew would have been more accurately labelled broth.

3. 3
   adj

   Impoverished; wanting for money.

   The poor penurious horde, naught in the cooking pot and naught in the belly.

From Medieval Latin pēnūriōsus. See penury from Latin penuria (“want”), related to paene (“scarcely”), c. 1400. Compare French pénurie.

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