I. ˈpu̇(ə)r, -u̇ə, esp South, NE, & Brit ˈpōə or ˈpō(ə)r or ˈpȯ(ə) or ˈpȯ(ə)r adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, povere, poure, pore, from Old French povre, poure, from Latin pauper; akin to Latin paucus little and to Latin parere to bring forth, parare to acquire — more at few , pare
1.
a. : lacking material possessions : existing without the luxuries and often the necessities of life : having little money
they were so poor that they couldn't afford things — Mary Austin
homes of poorer folk have their gardens — D.C.Buchanan
b. : of, relating to, or characterized by poverty
2.
a. : wanting in amount or capacity : less than adequate : deficient , meager , scanty
they gripe … loudly in winters of poor snow — R.S.Monahan
was largely responsible for the poor attendance — R.W.Southern
disappointed in the poor crop
b. : small in worth
one poor pennyworth of sugar candy — Shakespeare
c. of lime : lean 3c
3. : worthy of being pitied : being in a position to excite compassionate regard
the poor guard had started to cry out — S.H.Holbrook
the poor things all got colds — Charlton Laird
4.
a. : inferior in quality : having little distinction, value, or worth
inscription painted in poor Latin on a nearby wall — C.A.Robinson
displayed very poor sportsmanship
b. : of lowly disposition : humble , unpretentious
if it would be prudent to interrupt … on his poor trivial account — Thomas Hardy
c. : mentally or ethically inferior : mean or small of spirit
neighbors seemed to him poor fellows with too little spirit to be free men — V.L.Parrington
they are base, poor , contemptible fellows — Robert Burton
d. : having little significance : trivial
each one of those great sciences was in its dim and poor beginning — F.W.H.Myers
5.
a. : being in an emaciated condition : lean , scrawny
in first-class breeding condition, neither too fat nor in any way poor — Henry Wynmalen
b. chiefly dialect : lacking necessary strength : not in good condition : feeble , thin
looked poor after the hard winter
6. : characterized by unproductiveness : barren — used of land
only in the remote and poorest sections … is the dull and drudging farmwife of thirty years ago met today — American Guide Series: Minnesota
7. : fairly unsatisfactory : indifferent , unfavorable
the condescending … tone which betrays a poor opinion of the reader — John Farrelly
the business of a printer being generally thought a poor one — Benjamin Franklin
8. : characterized by inefficiency or failure to meet a standard
drawbacks in operational use because of poor precision — J.P.Baxter b.1893
Synonyms:
poor , indigent , needy , destitute , penniless , impecunious , poverty-stricken , and necessitous agree in signifying having barely enough money or possessions to support life or having less money or fewer possessions than are essential. poor is the most general, applying to both those in want and those who commonly must live below a comfortable standard of living
a pretty child bought from miserably poor parents under a contract — Lafcadio Hearn
a man may be too poor to maintain a wife — Edward Westermarck
the resulting waste of resources can make a poor people in a barren land — H.W.Odum
as poor as church mice
indigent and needy , the first more literary than the second, both imply pressing or urgent want
the depression had left a number of them indigent, without state or federal relief — Green Peyton
the skyrocketing costs put a rapidly increasing number of people in the medically indigent class — J.H.Means
needy children in migrant farm worker families — Current Biography
to aid needy and deserving students — Official Register of Harvard University
destitute implies dire and dangerous need, suggesting the calamitous and wretched
left destitute to face the prospect of a bleak and impoverished old age — John Galsworthy
soldiers who by death or illness had left their wives and children destitute — A.V.D.Honeyman
penniless and impecunious can be equivalent in indicating the lack of money or resources on which to live or live decently and in not carrying the immediate connotations of calamitousness or wretchedness as does destitute. impecunious differs from penniless in often suggesting a habitual or chronic condition
this very beautiful English girl was a penniless governess, left stranded in Germany by an employer — Margaret Deland
remembered by his associates as the bright but penniless youth whose climb to fame rivaled the most incredible of the Alger stories — American Guide Series: Minnesota
the impecunious artists and writers of New York — Jerome Mellquist
my greatest treat as a small and impecunious Scots boy was to visit friends of my mother who were “big people” — Aylmer Vallance
poverty-stricken signifies indigent or destitute but stresses more the suffering or strain attendant upon dire poverty
the bulk of the pioneers was formed by poverty-stricken people who migrated from densely populated areas — J.F.Embree & W.L.Thomas
a poverty-stricken primary school — H.R.Warfel
necessitous , less common than the preceding words, is equivalent to needy, sometimes connoting insistent demands for relief
fifty necessitous persons are being assisted at a total annual cost of over £1,500 — Veterinary Record
in no sense of the word were they necessitous or poor — Jane Austen
a greedy and necessitous public — Edmund Burke
II. noun
( plural poor )
: one that is poor — usually used collectively
for you always have the poor with you — Mt 26:11 (Revised Standard Version)
respected by both rich and poor
III. ˈpüər
chiefly dialect
variant of power
IV. ˈpu̇(ə)r noun
or poor cod
( -s )
Etymology: poor, short for poor cod, from poor (I) + cod
: a small European codfish ( Gadus minutus ) considered of little worth
V. adjective
: lacking a normal or adequate supply of something specified — often used in combination
cash- poor countries