▪ I. meagre, a. (n.)
(ˈmiːgə(r))
Forms: 4–7 megre, 5 megire, meger(e, 6 meiger, Sc. megir, 6–7 maigre, megar, 6–9 meager, 7 meaguer, 6– meagre.
[ME. megre, a. OF. megre, maigre (mod.F. maigre) = Pr. magre, maigre, Sp., Pg., It. magro, Romanian macru:—L. macrum (macer), cogn. with Gr. µακρός long, µακεδνός tall, slender, µῆκος length. The synon. Teut. *magro- (OE. mæᵹer, MLG., Du. mager, OHG. magar, mod.G. mager, ON. magr, Sw., Da. mager; wanting in Goth.) may represent a pre-Teut. *makró- = L. macro-, Gr. µακρό-; the nature of the sense renders this more likely than the alternative supposition that the Teut. word was adopted from Latin.]
1. Of persons and animals, their limbs, etc.: Having little flesh; lean, thin, emaciated.
| 13.. Coer de L. 1079 The lyoun was hungry and megre. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1198 Fro þat mete was myst, megre þay wexen. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. lxxxvii. 568, I am megre and haue ben longe seke for the loue of la Beale Isoud. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 599 Thou art so leane and meagre waxen late. 1596 ― F.Q. iv. viii. 12 With heary glib deform'd, and meiger face. 1603 Dekker Wonderful Year B j b, She..was deliuered of a pale, meagre, weake childe. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I.) 151 There are others..who make use of all the secrets in Physicke to have a megar aspect. 1673 O. Walker Educ. i. ix. 95 [They] are alwaies lean, maigre and consumptive. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiii. 275 The wan and meager countenances of the crew. 1820 Scott Monast. ix, The meagre condition of his horse. 1822 W. Irving Braceb. Hall ii. 13 A meagre wiry old fellow. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. Introd. 55 As for us, meagre mountaineers, we shall continue..to make the best of our granite rocks. 1883 F. M. Wallem Fish-Supply Norway 29 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) The Italians prefer meagre fish to plump. |
b. with personifications, esp. Famine, Envy.
| 1594 Kyd Cornelia i. i. 176 Maigre famin, which the weake foretell. a 1625 Fletcher Cust. Country v. i, Maugre [? read maigre] palenesse Like winter nips the roses and the lilies. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 185 He calls for Famine, and the meagre fiend Blows mildew from between his shrivelled lips. 1809 Heber Palestine 13 Lawless force, and meagre want are there. |
¶ c. Applied to what produces emaciation.
| 1612 Dekker If it be not good Wks. 1873 III. 282 Your order..Tyed to religious fasts, spends the sad day Wholy in meager contemplation. |
† d. absol. as n. Leanness, emaciation.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 1164 Slik mischife in þe mene quile emang his men fallis For megire [Dubl. MS. meger] & for meteles ware mervaile to here. 1530 Palsgr. 244/1 Megre a sicknesse, maigre. |
2. Deficient or mean in quantity, size or quality; wanting in fullness or richness; poor, scanty. a. of material things; esp. of soil, vegetation.
† In the first quot. without disparaging implication: ? small in size; ? delicate in sound.
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. xxxv, Quhairfra dependant hang thir megir bellis. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 80 The glorious sunne..playes the Alchymist, Turning..The meager cloddy earth to glittering gold. 1596 ― Merch. V. iii. ii. 104 But thou, thou meager lead..Thy palenesse moues me more then eloquence. 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. xxxix. 286 Cankered, and very Maigre, Hungry Soil. 1806 Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 136 A sandy plain..covered with a meagre, green, benty pasture. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxxiv, An old woman..sat..crouching over a meagre fire. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. xiv. (1858) 465 On its shabby roof a meagre cupola. 1871 Blackie Four Phases i. 41 A meagre plant growing up in a bad climate. 1872 Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 71 Little Langdale Tarn lies close below..looking very meagre. |
b. Of food, fare, diet: Scanty; deficient in quantity or goodness.
| 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 123 We must excuse her for this meager entertainment. 1831 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Ellistoniana, The meagre banquet. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. vi. 56 The meagre allowance of two pounds of raw flesh every other day. 1898–9 J. A. Wylie Hist. Protestant. 237 The meagre meals he allowed himself. |
c. Of literary composition or material, information, subject-matter, artistic treatment, or the like: Wanting in fullness or elaboration; jejune.
| 1539 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 193, I haue caused them [sc. letters] to be writen in suche a maigre sorte as I thought the case required. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis Ep. Ded. (Arb.) 4 Oure Virgil not content wyth such meigre stuffe. 1696 Phillips s.v., Figuratively we say a Meager Stile, a Meager Subject. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. IV. 353 All we have is a meagre fragment, a traditionary tale. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 112 The continuation of a meagre chronicle. 1898 J. Murray in Westm. Gaz. 14 June 8/2 Collecting the best stories and stringing them together with the very meagrest amount of comment. |
d. Of pleasures, intellect, ideas; also of resources, possessions.
| 1638 Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 53 The pleasures of the Country are too gross and meager for a taste that is used to more delicate and solid pleasures. 1755 Young Centaur iii. Wks. 1757 IV. 169 It is one of their minute, and meagre pleasures. 1862 J. Martineau Ess. (1866) I. 199 It is but a meagre and imperfect form of faith. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxviii. 33 Books—if they're but scanty, a store full meagre, around me. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 397 Their meagre minds refuse to attribute anything to anything. 1893 Saltus Madam Sapphira 19 There was the house, the meager income and his professional hopes. |
e. Min. Harsh, dry. ? Obs.
| 1794 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 12 Calcareous earths feel dry, meagre, and harsh. Ibid. 116 Meagre lime takes up less sand. 1844 E. J. Chapman Char. Minerals 53 This sensation [touch] may be either very greasy, ex. talc; greasy, ex. steatite; rather greasy, ex. asbestus; or meagre, ex. chalk. |
3. = maigre. soup meagre tr. F. soupe maigre.
| 1705 Addison Italy 474 (Switzerland) The best meagre Food in the World. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 331 On meagre days the Roman-catholics here fare very badly. 1796 Southey Lett. fr. Spain (1799) 352 After doing penance for forty days on fish and soup meagre, they [etc.]. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 222 The church enjoins a number of meagre days. 1855 Delamer Kitch. Gard. (1861) 55 The Red cabbage..is generally eaten..during Lent, when it forms an excellent meagre dish. |
b. absol. as n. ‘Maigre’ diet. Phrases, to eat, make meagre. (Cf. maigre a. 3.)
| 1770 Baretti Journ. Lond. Genoa III. lxv. 220 The Spaniards do not eat meagre on Saturdays. 1834 Beckford Italy I. 335 Every thing..which..the rules of meagre could allow. 1851 J. H. Newman Cath. in Eng. 326 Prejudice..which would..call it Popish persecution, to be kept on meagre for a Lent. 1852 Thackeray Esmond ii. iii, We make meagre on Fridays always. |
4. Comb., as meagre-hued, meagre faced, meagre minded, etc. adjs.
| 1596 R. L[inche] Diella (1877) 58 That pale leane-fac'd meager-hewed enuie. 1644 Howell Eng. Teares Ded., Methinks I spie meagre-fac'd Famine making towards thee. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xx. 230 Cold-hearted, thankless, meagre-minded creature as I know he is. |
▪ II. † meagre, v. Obs.
(ˈmiːgə(r))
[f. meagre a. Cf. F. maigrir.]
trans. To make meagre or lean.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 1696/2 So weried and megered for want of sustenance, that [etc.]. 1700 Dryden æsacus Transf. 54 His ceaseless sorrow for the unhappy maid Meagred his look, and on his spirits preyed. 1807 Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 16 June, I am meagred to a skeleton. |
▪ III. meagre
variant of maigre n.