Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having insufficient wealth to meet the necessities or comforts of life or to live in a manner considered acceptable in a society.
- adjective Relating to or characterized by poverty.
- adjective Deficient or lacking in a specified resource or quality.
- adjective Not adequate in quality or quantity; inferior.
- adjective Negative, unfavorable, or disapproving.
- adjective Undernourished; lean. Used especially of animals.
- adjective Humble; meek.
- adjective Eliciting or deserving pity; pitiable.
- noun Poor people considered as a group.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In England, a gadoid fish, Gadus minutus.
- To pet in a pitying, compassionate way.
- Possessing little; destitute of wealth: opposed to rich: as, a poor man; a poor community.
- Lacking means to procure the comforts of life; indigent; needy; necessitous; specifically, in law, so destitute or impoverished as to be dependent upon charity, or upon the poorrates; pauper.
- Deficient in or destitute of desirable or essential qualities; lacking those qualities which render a thing valuable, desirable, suitable, or sufficient for its purpose; inferior; bad: as, poor bread; poor health; cattle in poor condition.
- In particular— Of little consequence; trifling; insignificant; paltry: as, a poor excuse.
- Mean; shabby: as, a poor outfit; poor surroundings.
- Lean; meager; emaciated: as, poor cattle.
- Lacking in fertility; barren; exhausted: as, poor land.
- Lacking in spirit or vigor; feeble; impotent.
- Destitute of merit or worth; barren; jejune: as, a poor discourse; a poor essay.
- Unfortunate; to be pitied or regretted: much used colloquially as a vague epithet indicative of sympathy or pity for one who is sick, feeble, or unhappy, or of regret for one who is dead.
- Miserable; wretched: used in contempt.
- Humble; slight; insignificant: used modestly in speaking of things pertaining to one's self.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A small European codfish (
Gadus minutus ); -- called alsopower cod . - adjective Destitute of property; wanting in material riches or goods; needy; indigent.
- adjective (Law) So completely destitute of property as to be entitled to maintenance from the public.
- adjective Destitute of such qualities as are desirable, or might naturally be expected.
- adjective Wanting in fat, plumpness, or fleshiness; lean; emaciated; meager
- adjective Wanting in strength or vigor; feeble; dejected.
- adjective Of little value or worth; not good; inferior; shabby; mean.
- adjective Destitute of fertility; exhausted; barren; sterile; -- said of land.
- adjective Destitute of beauty, fitness, or merit.
- adjective Without prosperous conditions or good results; unfavorable; unfortunate; unconformable.
- adjective Inadequate; insufficient; insignificant.
- adjective Worthy of pity or sympathy; -- used also sometimes as a term of endearment, or as an expression of modesty, and sometimes as a word of contempt.
- adjective Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.
- adjective a law providing for, or regulating, the relief or support of the poor.
- adjective (Bot.), [Eng] garlic; -- so called because it was thought to be an antidote to animal poison.
- adjective (Bot.) the red-flowered pimpernel (
Anagallis arvensis ), which opens its blossoms only in fair weather. - adjective an assessment or tax, as in an English parish, for the relief or support of the poor.
- adjective (Zoöl.) the friar bird.
- adjective those who are destitute of property; the indigent; the needy. In a legal sense, those who depend on charity or maintenance by the public.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective With little or no possessions or money.
- adjective Of low quality.
- adjective To be pitied.
- adjective Deficient in a specified way.
- adjective
inadequate ,insufficient - noun with "the" Those who have little or no possessions or money, taken as a group.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun people without possessions or wealth (considered as a group)
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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Oh da poor kitteh…(snerk)… hez gettin a automayted baff… (mai eyes are leekin form da laughin)..poor wet kitteh.
CDC cat - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2008
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But I say also to the poor, '_In your turn have charity for the rich_;' and I say to the rich, '_In your turn respect the poor_.'
The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 Various
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The hired servant is called "poor and needy," and the reason assigned by God why he should be paid as soon as he had finished his work is, "For _he is poor_, and setteth his heart upon it."
The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society
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They deny both the justice and expediency of permitting any degree of ignorance or debasement to work the forfeiture of self-ownership, and pronounce slavery continued for such a cause the worst of all, inasmuch as it is the _robbery of the poor because he is poor_.
The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society
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And poor mamma '-- the faint voice, forgetful of its weakness, grows stronger for a moment, and dwells on that name with measureless compassion --' poor, poor, _poor_ mamma!
Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various
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"Oh, I am too poor, _too poor_," said she, and burst into tears.
Choice Readings for the Home Circle Anonymous
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"But there's one thing I wish she would do -- poor -- _poor_ Aunt Meda --" he glanced up at the light in the window.
Flamsted quarries Mary E. Waller
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The hired servant is called "poor and needy," and the reason assigned by God why he should be paid as soon as he had finished his work is, "For _he is poor_, and setteth his heart upon it."
The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 1 of 4 American Anti-Slavery Society
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The poor man sees the friend, the charity, the answer that is able and ready to help him in need; is it any wonder that he overlooks the source of this power, this plenty, that he forgets the robbery in the robber who is good to the poor?
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So she left poor Dick; I say _poor_ Dick, because he had not found any one else.
News from Nowhere, or, an Epoch of Rest : being some chapters from a utopian romance William Morris 1865
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