thrift

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   careful and economical use of money or other resources; frugality

   Canon Chasuble complained that the poorer parishioners did not seem to understand thrift.

2. 2
   noun

   a savings and loan association or similar financial institution, especially in the United States

   The regional thrift offered first-time buyers a fixed-rate mortgage.

3. 3
   noun

   a low-growing evergreen plant of the genus Armeria, often bearing round heads of pink or white flowers

   Pink thrift grew in dense cushions along the windy cliff.

From Middle English thrift, from Old Norse þrift ("prosperity, thriving condition"). It belongs to the same word family as thrive. The earlier sense of prosperity or gain gradually narrowed to the careful management of money and resources that helps prosperity endure.

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