Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class V. Words Releasing to the Voluntary Powers
Division (II) Intersocial Volition
Section IV. Possessive Relations
4. Monetary Relations

804. Poverty.

   NOUN:POVERTY, indigence, penury, pauperism, destitution, want; need, neediness; lack, necessity, privation, distress, difficulties, wolf at the door.
  STRAITS; bad -, poor -, needy -, embarrassed -, reduced -, straightened- circumstances; slender -, narrow- means; hand-to-mouth existence, res angusta domi [L.], low water [slang, U. S.], impecuniosity.
  MENDICITY, beggary, mendicancy; broken -, loss of- fortune; insolvency (nonpayment) [See Nonpayment].
  empty -purse, – pocket; light purse; “a beggarly account of empty boxes” [Romeo and Juliet].
  POOR MAN, pauper, mumper, mendicant, beggar, starveling; pauvre diable [F.], fakir or fakeer [India], sunyasi [India], schnorrer [Yiddish].
   VERB:BE POOR &c. adj.; want, lack, starve, live from hand to mouth, have seen better days, go down in the world, come upon the parish; go to -the dogs, – the almshouse, – the poorhouse, – rack and ruin; not have a -penny (money) [See Money], – shot in one’s locker; beg one’s bread, – from door to door; tirer le diable par la queue [F.]; run into debt (debt) [See Debt].
  RENDER POOR &c. adj.; impoverish; reduce, – to poverty; pauperize, fleece, ruin, bring on the parish.
   ADJECTIVE:POOR, indigent; poverty-stricken; badly -, poorly -, ill- off; poor as -a rat, – a church mouse, – Job, – Job’s turkey [colloq.]; fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless; unportioned, unmoneyed; impecunious; out -, short- of -money, – cash; without -, not- worth- a rap (money) [See Money]; qui n’a pas le sou [F.], out of pocket, hard up; out at -elbows, – heels; seedy [colloq.], in rags, barefooted; beggarly, beggared, destitute; fleeced, stripped; bereft, bereaved; reduced.
  IN WANT &c. n.; needy, necessitous, distressed, pinched, straitened; put to one’s -shifts, – last shifts; unable to -keep the wolf from the door, – make both ends meet; embarrassed, under hatches; involved (in debt) [See Debt]; insolvent (not paying) [See Nonpayment].
   ADVERB:in formâ pauperis [L.].
   QUOTATIONS:

1. Zonam perdidit.
2. A penniless lass wi’ a lang pedigree.—Lady Nairne
3. À pobreza no hay vergüenza.
4. He that is down can fall no lower.—Butler
5. Poca roba poco pensiero.
6. Steep’d … in poverty to the very lips.—Othello
7. The short and simple annals of the poor.—Gray
8. The beggarly last doit.—Cowper
9. I am as poor as Job, my lord, but not so patient.—II Henry IV
10. I only ask that Fortune send A little more than I can spend.—Holmes
11. I enjoyed the immunities of impecuniosity with the opportunities of a millionaire.—Shaw