poor

Definition

With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure, from Latin pauper, from Old Latin *pavo-pars (literally “getting little”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”). Doublet of pauper. Displaced native arm, wantsome, Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unlǣde), Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weliġ (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”)).

Example Sentences

• "We were so poor that we couldn't afford shoes."
• "England is growne to ſuch a paſſe of late, That rich men triumph to ſee the poore beg at their gate."
• "When Owenism and Chartism had burned themselves out, England had become poorer by that substance out of which the Anglo-Saxon ideal of a free society could have been built up for centuries to come."

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