Meagre

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Meager \Mea"ger\, Meagre \Mea"gre\, a. [OE. merge, F. maigre, L.
     macer; akin to D. & G. mager, Icel. magr, and prob. to Gr.
     makro`s long. Cf. {Emaciate}, {Maigre}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              Meager were his looks;
              Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Destitute of richness, fertility, strength, or the like;
        defective in quantity, or poor in quality; poor; barren;
        scanty in ideas; wanting strength of diction or affluence
        of imagery; as, meager resources; meager fare. Opposite of
        {ample}. [WordNet sense 1] [Narrower terms: {exiguous}]
        [Narrower terms: {hardscrabble, marginal}] [Narrower
        terms: {measly, miserable, paltry}] "Meager soil."
        --Dryden.
  
     Syn: meagre, meagerly, scanty.
          [1913 Webster]
  
                Of secular habits and meager religious belief.
                                                    --I. Taylor.
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                His education had been but meager.  --Motley.
          [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Min.) Dry and harsh to the touch, as chalk.
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     4. less than a desirable amount; -- of items distributed from
        a larger supply. [WordNet sense 2]
  
     Syn: scrimpy, skimpy, skimping.
          [WordNet 1.5]
  
     Syn: Thin; lean; lank; gaunt; starved; hungry; poor;
          emaciated; scanty; barren.
          [1913 Webster] Meager

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Meagre \Mea"gre\, n. [F. maigre.] (Zool.)
     A large European sciaenoid fish ({Sciaena umbra} or {Sciaena
     aquila}), having white bloodless flesh. It is valued as a
     food fish. [Written also {maigre}.]
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Meager \Mea"ger\, Meagre \Mea"gre\, v. t.
     To make lean. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  meagre
       adj : deficient in amount or quality or extent; "meager
             resources"; "meager fare" [syn: {meager}, {meagerly}]
             [ant: {ample}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  44 Moby Thesaurus words for "meagre":
     bare, barren, bony, broad, deficient, emaciated, exiguous, gaunt,
     general, half-starved, inadequate, indefinite, infertile,
     insufficient, lean, loose, measly, paltry, pathetic, piddling,
     plain, poor, puny, scant, scanty, scrawny, scrimpy, simple,
     simplified, skimpy, skinny, spare, sparse, starving, thin,
     trifling, unadorned, underfed, undernourished, unelaborate,
     unembellished, unfruitful, unproductive, vague