Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Slang Contemptibly small; meager: gave the parking attendant a measly tip.
- adj. Infected with measles.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Infected with measles or the measle, as an animal or its flesh, especially pork.
- Good-for-nothing; miserable; wretched; contemptible.
Wiktionary
- adj. Infected with measles
- adj. Infected with larval tapeworms
- adj. Infected with tricinae
- adj. Small in amount, contemptibly so.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Infected with measles.
- adj. (Zoöl.) Containing larval tapeworms; -- said of pork and beef.
- adj. Contemptibly small in quantity; meager; absurdly insufficient or bad.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. contemptibly small in amount
Etymologies
- measles + -y (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The doctor returned to the captain, and said, "that there was no doubt but that the pig was measly, which was a complaint very frequent on board ships, particularly in hot climates, where all pork became _measly_ -- one great reason for its there proving so unwholesome.”
“The media has constantly focused, and Wall Street has been very happy about this focus, on this measly-and I say "measly" - $700 billion worth of TARP money that Congress allowed to be allocated last October.”
“You just don't call a measly step or even two on a legend nicknamed "Air" any more than you call Barry Bonds, reputed to have the best eye at the plate in baseball, out on strikes on a borderline pitch.”
“I am enjoying the WSJ and all of the other hacks/pundits yammering about his 'measly' 30mil looking like complete idiots.”
Obama's Money: $50 Million Raised For Primary, But It Doesn't Matter
“You have to care, otherwise you wouldn't work so hard to save one "measly" animal.”
“So when Bush touts his record — a tripling of aid to Africa, a $15-billion commitment to fight HIV/AIDS, etc. — it has to be put in perspective: It's better than nothing, but it's still kind of measly ....”
“Still, the UN peacekeeping budget of US2. 17 billion dollars is described as "measly" compared with America's staggering US350 billion military budget for this year.”
“The tapeworms, common in many animals and often occurring in man, the roundworms of which the trichina (Fig. 3) that causes "measly" pork is a representative, are familiar examples.”
“= -- This is developed in man after eating "measly" beef or pork.”
“Measles -- harmless, tickly, snuffly, "measly" little measles -- kills from thirty to sixty per cent of whole villages and tribes of Indians and cripples half the remainder!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘measly’.
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, M
metamerism, malady, margin, marauder, maverick, mercury, mirth, mandible, macerate, meteor, manumission, mica and 292 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Valse's Words
fastidious, fervent, bellicose, personification, onomatopoeia, burly, concomitant, tempura, serendipity, pecuniary, foment, chum and 418 more...
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