frugal, a.
(ˈfruːgəl)
[ad. L. frūgālis, f. frūgī used as indecl. adj. = ‘frugal, economical, useful’, originally the dat. of frux profit, utility, fruit (chiefly in pl. frūgēs fruits): see -al1. Cf. F. frugal.]
1. Careful or sparing in the use of food, goods, etc.; economical. Const. of (? obs.).
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 28, I was then Frugall of my mirth. 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes, 2nd Olymp. Ode xi, 'Tis now the cheap and frugal fashion, Rather to Hide than Pay the Obligation. 1758 J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 51 Observation had taught me to be frugal of the Teguments. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxvii. 120 Few had borne a greater part in the frugal politics of the late king. 1782 Cowper Gilpin viii, Though on pleasure she was bent She had a frugal mind. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 457 The mere husbandmen are sober, frugal, and industrious. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 685 The frugal life of the true Hellenic citizen. |
b. Of things, esp. food: Sparingly supplied or used; of small cost; opposed to luxurious.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 616 Captaine Timotheus having upon a time beene at a sober and frugall scholars supper. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 194 Pot-herbs..bruis'd with Vervain, were his frugal Fare. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. xlvi. (1837) 267 A frugal meal, which consisted of roots and tea. 1783 Crabbe Village i. 324 The glad parish pays the frugal fee. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. ii. Half-Rome 460 A frugal board, bare sustenance, no more. 1894 Mrs. H. Ward Marcella I. 9 The uncovered boards with their frugal strips of carpet. |
2. Comb., as frugal-feeding adj.
| 1814 Edin. Rev. XXIII. 51 The frugal-feeding goat supplied a competency of milk. |
Hence ˈfrugally adv., in a frugal manner; ˈfrugalness.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxix. §1 For worldly goods it sufficeth frugally and honestly to vse them to our owne benefit. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. iii. 37 Plato seemed too frugally politick, who allowed no larger Monument then would contain four Heroick Verses. 1721 Berkeley Prev. Ruin Gt. Brit. Wks. III. 198 That sum..frugally and prudently laid out in workhouses. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Frugalness. 1779–81 Johnson L.P. Wks. 1816 IX. 338 He seldom lives frugally who lives by chance. 1871 Carlyle in Mrs. Carlyle's Lett. I. 373 His frugally elegant small house and table. 1886 Ruskin Præterita II. ix. 328 The bunch of grapes or stalk of garlic they frugally dined on. |