meager
adjective
- (of e.g. a person/animal/limb) lean/thin/emaciated
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈmiɡɚ/ / /ˈmiːɡə/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English megre, from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós. Akin, through the Indo-European root, to Old English mæġer (“meager, lean”), West Frisian meager (“meager”), Dutch mager (“meager”), German mager, Icelandic magr whence the Icelandic magur, Norwegian Bokmål mager and Danish mager. Doublet of maigre.
- Having little flesh; lean; thin.
- Poor, deficient or inferior in amount, quality or extent
“A meager piece of cake in one bite.”
“The street outside my window furnishes meager entertainment.”
- Of a set: such that, considered as a subset of a (usually larger) topological space, it is in a precise sense small or negligible.
- Dry and harsh to the touch (e.g., as chalk).
verb
Etymology: From Middle English megre, from Anglo-Norman megre, Old French maigre, from Latin macer, from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós. Akin, through the Indo-European root, to Old English mæġer (“meager, lean”), West Frisian meager (“meager”), Dutch mager (“meager”), German mager, Icelandic magr whence the Icelandic magur, Norwegian Bokmål mager and Danish mager. Doublet of maigre.
- To make lean.