Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A meager monetary allowance, wage, or remuneration.
- noun A very small amount.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An allowance or dole of food and drink; hence, any very small portion or allowance assigned or given, whether of food or money; allowance; provision; dole.
- noun An allowance of food or money bestowed in charity; a small charitable gift or payment.
- noun A small portion or quantity; a morsel.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An allowance of food bestowed in charity; a mess of victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole.
- noun A meager portion, quantity, or allowance; an inconsiderable salary or compensation.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
allowance of food and drink; ascanty meal. - noun A
meagre allowance of money or wages. - noun A small amount.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an inadequate payment
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The Overland, having in fact infinitely more prestige than cash, promised the 23-year-old author $5 for his story but delayed payment so insistently that London had to storm the office and almost literally shake the pittance from the trousers of the magazine's editor.
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As he's presently unemployed, my pittance is helping keep food on the table.
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
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Or should be grateful for whatever pittance is tossed their general direction despite the fact no other industry "expects" this.
Back on Track... angelinehawkes 2007
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I don´t even want to consider what that 600 sf apartment on Russian Hill we sold for a pittance is worth today.
sera commented on the word pittance
"An inadequate payment"
August 13, 2007
Akki6192 commented on the word pittance
pittance..pit reverse tip..
Small amount
November 13, 2013
chained_bear commented on the word pittance
"When Suger of Saint-Denis lay dying of malaria in 1137, he summoned the monks and decreed two pittances* of spiced wine, plus wheat and wine for the poor.
*The original sense of a pittance was a bequest to a religious house, whence it came to designate a small dietary allowance to the monks. The sense here is of modest sufficiency."
--Jack Turner, _Spice: The History of a Temptation_ (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 276
December 6, 2016