stingy

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   unwilling to spend

   They practice economy without being stingy.

2. 2
   adj

   Unwilling to spend, give, or share; ungenerous; mean.

   "Well, I'm doing my best to grow," said Davy, "but it's a thing you can't hurry much. If Marilla wasn't so stingy with her jam I believe I'd grow a lot faster."

3. 3
   adj

   Small, scant, meager, insufficient.

   The realization of this joint oppression is like discovering that the stingy crusts of bread being held out by society have mold on them.

4. 4
   adj

   Stinging; able or inclined to sting.

   Bumble bee – Bumble bee / I send to you this sonnet, / But please don't be – Bumble bee / The stingy bee in my bonnet.

5. 5
   adj

   deficient in amount or quality or extent

Etymology

Uncertain, possibly from stinge, a dialectal variation of sting (verb).