poverty
(ˈpɒvətɪ)
Forms: α. 2–5 pouerte (poverte), 4–6 pouert, (4 -erd, 5 -ertt(e, powert), povert. β. 3–6 pouerte (= -té), (3 pouirte, 4 pouertte, 4–5 poerte, 4–6 poverte, 5 powerte, pouer-, povertee, pauuerty, 6 povarte, powertie), 4–7 pouertie, 5–6 poure-, povrete, (6 povertey), 6–7 povertie, pouerty, 7– poverty. γ. 4 Sc. purte, 5 pourte, 6 poorety, Sc. purtye.
[Repr. two OF. forms, (α) poˈverte or poˈuerte:—L. pauˈpertās, nominative, and (β) poverté, pouerté, poureté, orig. -tet, later F. pauvreté:—L. paupertātem, accusative, f. pauper poor + -tās, -tātem: see -ty. The γ forms show the early reduction of pouerté to pourté, and so to poorty (cf. poor). The same reduction of the first syllable is seen in the Sc. form purteth, poortith, from OF. pouretet.
Here, as in the early forms of poor, the ambiguity of u (v) before the 17th c. makes the pronunciation of many early forms uncertain. Some mod.F. dialects have poureté, paureté, and the original v was prob. vocalized or suppressed in some forms of OF., as the γ forms and the doublet poortith show that it was from the 14th c. in some ME. dialects.]
The condition or quality of being poor. (In senses 4–6 replaced to a great extent by poorness.)
I. 1. a. The condition of having little or no wealth or material possessions; indigence, destitution, want (in various degrees: see poor a. 1).
| α c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 143 Þer scal beon worldwunne, wið-uten pouerte. a 1225 Ancr. R. 32 Alle sorie, þet wo & pouerte þolieð. a 1300 Cursor M. 6073 (Cott.) And qua for pouert [so Fairf., Trin.; Gött. pouerte] es be-hind. Ibid. 17117, I thold pouerd [v.r. pouert], pine, and scame. c 1325 Metr. Hom. 3 Forthi wil I of my pouert, Schau sum thing that I haf in hert. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ix. 111 Was no pride on his apparail, ne no pouert noþer [B. viii. 116 ne pouerte noyther]. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. iii, Foriugit was to pouert in exile. 1472–3 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 20/1 Whiche afore lyved in povert and miserye. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. D vj b, Hongre, thurst, cold, pouert, care. |
| β a 1300 Sarmun xli. in E.E.P. (1862) 5 In wo and pine and pouerte..for as i sigge so hit sal be. 13.. Cursor M. 19058 (Gött.) Bihald on vs and se And vnderstand vr pouertte. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 551 And gret anoyis, and powerte [rime pite]. a 1430 Chaucer's Melib. ¶598 (Harl. MS.) Þerfore clepeth Cassidore pouertee [v. rr. pouerte, pouert] the moder of ruyne. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 33 Pouertie in surete is better than richesse in fere. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxvii. 8 With powertie I hald him schent. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 14 b, The thre vowes, obedyence, chastite, and wylfull pouerty. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xcvi. 312 Ther is no warre but it causeth pouerte. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1869) 165 Pouertée partth felowship, thats not trewe euer, Pouertie in beggers partth felowship neuer. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 9 Let no man hauing a fit plot plead pouerty in this case. 1798 Malthus Popul. iii. v. (1806) II. 156 Almost all poverty is relative. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 23 Nov. 3/2 Mr. Rowntree explains that of the 20,000 found to be living ‘in poverty’ in York, 13,000 are living in what he calls ‘secondary poverty’, which is defined as meaning that the income of the family ‘would be sufficient for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency, were it not that some portion is absorbed by other expenditure either useful or wasteful’. |
| γ c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxvi. (Nycholas) 766 Sir, purte me in sic assay Has set, þat na man wil for me Borcht na detoure noþir be. c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camden) xxxiii, He..was owte of the cuntray for pourte fledde. c 1568 in Bannatyne Poems (Hunter. Cl.) 224 Thay passit by with handis plett; With purtye fra I wes ourtane. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xi. (Arb.) 173 Figures of rabbate..From the middle, as to say paraunter for parauenture, poorety for pouertie, souraigne for soueraigne. |
† b. Formerly also in
pl. (
Cf. hardships.)
rare.
| a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxv. 224 Y⊇ paynes, trauelles, and pouertyes that I enduryd. Ibid. cxxxi. 482 When I remembre the paynes, and dolours, and pouerties, that by my cause ye suffer. 1574 R. Scot Hop Gard. To Rdr., It were better..that Straungers shoulde enuie our prosperities, than our Friendes shoulde pittie our pouerties. |
c. fig. in allusion to
Matt. v. 3.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 13 Þay arn happen [= happy] þat han in hert pouerté. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 778 Ne Helye ne Austen swiche lijf neuer vsed, But in pouerte of spirit spended her tyme. 1720 Welton Suffer. Son of God I. xi. 278 Poverty of Spirit is an Abstraction of the Mind from the Mean and Despicable Trifles of the World. |
d. Personified and applied to a person, or persons generally, in whom it is exemplified.
| 1813 Byron Giaour xi, Alike must Wealth and Poverty Pass heedless and unheeding by. 1887 Lowell Democr. 28 Poverty pays with its person the chief expenses of war, pestilence and famine. 1890 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Christmas No. 147 Several loaves..to be distributed..to whatsoever of orthodox poverty the..parish may enclose. |
† 2. transf. the poverty: the poor collectively or as a class. (
Cf. the laity,
the quality.)
Obs.| 1433 Lydg. St. Edmund iii. 1487 Pray for knyhthod..Pray for the lawe..Pray for the plowh, pray for the pouerte. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. i. 731 (MS. Rawlinson) To lord & to lady, & to pouert [MS. Arundel povert] lowe, Full foyson was þere, to eueri man. 1537 J. London in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 80 The multytude of the poverty of the Town resortyd thedyr. 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie i. iv. 188 If to the Parish pouerty, At his wisht death, be dol'd a half-penny. |
II. 3. Deficiency, lack, scantiness, dearth, scarcity; smallness of amount.
| 1388 Wyclif Prov. vi. 32 He that is avouter schal leese his soule, for the pouert of herte. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 331 Yf vyne abounde In leef & haue of fruyt but pouerte. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) II. xix. 180 Attributable..to the poverty of modern literature at that time. 1895 H. P. Robinson Men Born Equal 66 The poverty and crudity of the available supply of domestic help. |
4. Deficiency in the proper or desired quality; inferiority, paltriness, meanness:
= poorness 3. (In
quot. c 1600
= poor or inferior matter.)
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 11, I knewe myn owne pouert, and schamede..after so noble spekers..to putte forþ my bareyn speche. 1597 Bacon Ess., Coulers Good & Evill v. (Arb.) 146 By imputing to all excellencie in compositions a kind of pouertie or..a casualty or ieopardy. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. ciii, Alack, what pouerty my Muse brings forth, That hauing such a skope to show her pride, The argument all bare is of more worth Than when it hath my added praise beside. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. i. §3 The poverty of your understanding. 1881 Broadhouse Mus. Acoustics 161 The peculiar quality of tone commonly called poverty, as opposed to richness, arises from the upper partials being comparatively too strong for the prime tone. 1883 Macfadyen in Congregat. Year Bk. 73 The poverty of the parsonage is often reflected in the poverty of the pulpit. |
5. Want of or deficiency
in some property, quality, or ingredient; the condition of being poorly supplied with something; (of soil, etc.) the condition of yielding little, unproductiveness.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 270 And yf pouerte appere in their sellis, That robbeth hem, wel worthi go to helle is. 1871 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. May 279 Its desolate aspect and its poverty,..although..covered with pines and scrub. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. v. 209 The extraordinary poverty of north and north-eastern Africa in river-producing power. |
6. Poor condition of body; leanness or feebleness resulting from insufficient nourishment, or the like.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. i. ccclxxii. 613 Sometyme they coulde get nothynge for money, so that their horses dyed for pouertie and colde. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §69 The ewes..wyll not take the ramme at the time of the yere, for pouertye, but goo barreyne. 1627 tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1651) 7 A strict Emaciating Diet..doth first bring Men to great Poverty and Leannesse by wasting the Juyces and Humours of the Body. 1731–3 Miller Gard. Dict. 6 D/1 The Trees are render'd more vigorous and healthy, scarcely ever having any Moss or other Marks of Poverty. 1889 Rider Haggard Allan's Wife, etc. 284 The ox..will..from mere maliciousness die of ‘poverty’. |
† 7. Alleged name for a company of pipers.
Obs.| 1486 Bk. St. Albans f vj b, A Pauuerty of pypers. |
III. 8. attrib. and
Comb., as
poverty-hardened,
poverty-smitten (
= poverty-stricken),
adjs.; also in names of plants growing in poor soil, or supposed to impoverish the soil, as
poverty-grass, (
a) one of several North American grasses that grow on poor soil,
esp. Aristida dichotoma; (
b)
= poverty-plant;
poverty level = poverty line;
poverty line, the estimated minimum income sufficient for obtaining the necessities of life;
poverty-plant, a small North American heath-like shrub,
Hudsonia tomentosa (family Cistaceæ);
poverty programme U.S., a programme or policy designed to alleviate poverty;
poverty shop (see
quots.);
poverty trap, a situation in which an earned increase to a low income is offset by the consequent loss of means-tested state benefits;
poverty-weed, in I. of Wight, purple cow-wheat,
Melampyrum arvense,
= cow-wheat 1.
| 1832 Boston Even. Transcript 30 Apr. 2/3 Fields..long given up to barrenness and *poverty-grass, are now broken up in readiness to receive the grain. 1864 Thoreau Cape Cod 20 A moss-like plant, Hudsonia tomentosa..called ‘poverty-grass’, because it grew where nothing else would. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Aristida dichotoma, Poverty grass. 1906 J. C. Lincoln Mr. Pratt vi. 95 He owned the sheds and barn..and the beach grass and the poverty grass. 1939 H. H. Bennett Soil Conservation xvii. 418 Scores of plants, known as weeds, enter into this far-reaching cover of volunteer vegetation: goldenrod, ragweed, poverty grass, [etc.]. 1973 H. McCloy Change of Heart iii. 23 The soil is still so sandy that only scrub pine, beach plum, bayberry bushes, and poverty grass grow wild there. |
| 1891 T. Stevens Through Russia xv. 242 This, among the *poverty-hardened moujiks was..not to be expected, nor desired. |
| 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 27 June 12-g/1 Statistics for last year show that over five million persons past age 65, or one out of every six, live on a *poverty level—defined as an income of under $46 a week for a single aged person or $57 for an aged couple. 1977 Rolling Stone 30 June 59/1 The poverty level varies according to family status. |
| 1901 W. S. Churchill in R. S. Churchill Winston Churchill (1969) II. Compan. i. ii. 108 Families who cannot provide this necessary sum, or who, providing it do not select their food with like discrimination are underfed and come below the ‘*poverty’ line. 1901 B. S. Rowntree Poverty iv. 114 The recipients of charity are the poor, i.e. those who from causes ‘primary’ or ‘secondary’ are below the poverty line. 1904 Westm Gaz. 22 Dec. 2/2 West Ham..contains a huge population of workers, many of whom are, even in normal times, very little above the poverty line. 1932 Discovery June 181/2, 21 shillings in Charles Booth's time..[was] the income for an ‘ordinary family’ at or about the poverty line. 1941 Economist 19 Apr. 522/1 The most fortunate group were the old age pensioners of Group C, who might..have an income of 32s., but even this, though well above the poverty line, is nowhere near the human needs level. 1968 E. Brill Old Cotswold vi. 89 He had little of the sharp business acumen that goes with the making of money on a big scale, but this is not evidence that he or his family were ever on the poverty line. 1973 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 19 Aug. 26/2 In 1960 about 11 per cent of the population..were living below the poverty line, defined as basic National Assistance rates plus 40 per cent. |
| 1967 Freedomways VII. 104 A few years ago..it seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor—both black and white—through the *Poverty Program. 1970 New Yorker 29 Aug. 57/1 Some of the people..being in a position to welcome any kind of investment, even poverty-program investment..have decided Miller is entitled to his ideas. 1971 Black Scholar Apr.–May 10 Who subsist on such foreign aid programs as ‘welfare’ and ‘poverty programs’. |
| 1948 R. Glass Social Background of Plan iv. ii. 161 Newport Road is famous for its ‘*poverty shops’: fried fish shops, pawnbrokers and junkshops. 1956 J. M. Mogey Family & Neighbourhood i. 10 It has become customary to call certain types of shops ‘poverty shops’: these are fried-fish shops, pawnbrokers, and junkshops. 1961 Poverty shop [see fish and chips s.v. fish n.1 7]. |
| 1899 Westm Gaz. 4 Apr. 10/1 The effect of the Bill..has been to bring to the surface all the *poverty-smitten old age of the colony, all the human wrecks. |
| 1972 Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 1/8 The idea was to prevent families falling into the ‘*poverty trap’—the situation in which a pay rise can mean the poor are worse off because they lose a disproportionate number of State benefits. 1973 Guardian 30 Mar. 6 The abolition of the ‘poverty trap’ called for the reintroduction of reduced tax rates for those near the threshold of tax. 1977 Times 23 Mar. 16/6 The ‘poverty trap’..arises from the fact that the level of supplementary benefits judged to be the minimum..acceptable can..total more than the personal allowance against tax. |
| 1847–78 Halliwell, *Poverty-weed, purple cow-wheat. A weed growing in corn, having a fine large flower, yellow, pale red, and purple; it is very injurious, and betokens a poor, light, stony soil. |