Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Meagre

{

Mea′ger

,

Mea′gre

}
,
Adj.
[OE.
merge
, F.
maigre
, L.
macer
; akin to D. & G.
mager
, Icel.
magr
, and prob. to Gr.
μακρόσ
long. Cf.
Emaciate
,
Maigre
.]
1.
Destitue of, or having little, flesh; lean.
Meager
were his looks;
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones.
Shakespeare
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
.
[wns=1]
[Narrower terms:
exiguous
] [Narrower terms:
hardscrabble, marginal
] [Narrower terms:
measly, miserable, paltry
] “Meager soil.”
Dryden.

Syn. – meagre, meagerly, scanty.
Of secular habits and
meager
religious belief.
I. Taylor.
His education had been but
meager
.
Motley.
3.
(Min.)
Dry and harsh to the touch, as chalk.
Syn. – Thin; lean; lank; gaunt; starved; hungry; poor; emaciated; scanty; barren.
{

Mea′ger

,

Mea′gre

}
,
Verb.
T.
To make lean.
[Obs.]

Mea′gre

,
Noun.
[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
.]

Definition 2024


meagre

meagre

English

A depiction of Argyrosomus regius

Noun

meagre (plural meagres)

  1. Argyrosomus regius, an edible fish of the family Sciaenidae.
    • 1986, A. Wysokiński, The Living Marine Resources of the Southeast Atlantic, FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 178, page 48,
      Among more valuable species some of them are worth mentioning, especially littoral forms as: meagres and other croakers (Sciaenidae), grunters (Pomadasyidae), threadfins (Polynemidae), groupers (Serranidae), snappers (Lutjanidae) [] .
    • 2008, Arturo Morales-Muñes, Eufrasia Roselló-Izquierdo, 11: Twenty Thousand Years of Fishing in the Strait, Torben C. Rick, Jon M. Erlandson (editors), Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Ecosystems: A Global Perspective, page 261,
      It is striking that these represent meagres (Argyrosomus regius), a species never mentioned in classical texts.
    • 2011, John S. Lucas, Paul C. Southgate, Aquaculture: Farming Aquatic Animals and Plants, unnumbered page,
      Meagres (Argyrosomus regius, 230 cm, 103 kg) have been raised mainly in Spain, France and Italy.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Derived terms
Translations

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Etymology 2

From Middle English megre, from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱros. Cognate with Old English mæġer (meagre, lean), Dutch mager (lean), German mager (lean), Icelandic magur (lean)..

Alternative forms

Adjective

meagre (comparative meagrer, superlative meagrest)

  1. Having little flesh; lean; thin.
    Nothing will grow in this meagre soil.
    He was given meagre piece of cake that he swallowed in one bite.
    • 1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 1, 1843, William Shakespeare, Samuel Weller Singer (notes), Charles Symmons (life), The Dramatic Works and Poems, Volume 2, page 462,
      [] meagre were his looks; / Sharp misery had worn him to the bones:
  2. Deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent; paltry; scanty; inadequate; unsatisfying.
  3. (set theory) Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.
  4. (mineralogy) Dry and harsh to the touch (e.g., as chalk).
Translations
Derived terms

Verb

meagre (third-person singular simple present meagres, present participle meagring, simple past and past participle meagred)

  1. (transitive) To make lean.
    • 1862, Robert Thomas Wilson, Herbert Randolph (editor), Life of General Sir Robert Wilson, page 275,
      I am meagred to a skeleton; my nose is broiled to flaming heat, and I am suffering the greatest inconvenience from the loss of my baggage which I fear the enemy have taken with my servant at Konigsberg.

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