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chary

adj
/ˈt͡ʃɛəɹi/UK/ˈt͡ʃɛɹi/

Etymology

From Middle English chari, charre, charri, chary, Early Middle English cearig, chariȝ (“concerned with, diligent; sad, sorrowful; of a person: cherished, loved”), from Old English ċeariġ (“careful; pensive; chary, wary; anxious, sad, sorrowful; dire, grievous”), from Proto-West Germanic *karag (“anxious; sad”), from Proto-Germanic *karō + *-gaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeh₂r- (“exclamation; voice”) + *-kos (suffix forming adjectives with the meaning ‘pertaining to; typical of’)); analysable as care + -y. The English word is cognate with Danish karrig (“miserly, stingy”), Dutch karig (“austere, scant, sparing”), Norwegian karrig (“barren; meagre; poor”), Old High German charag, karag (“sparing”) (modern German karg (“barren; meagre, poor”)), Old Saxon carag, karag, Swedish karg (“austere; barren; hungry; needy, poor”). See further at care.

  1. derived from *ǵeh₂r-✻ — “exclamation; voice”
  2. inherited from *karō✻
  3. inherited from *karag✻ — “anxious; sad”
  4. inherited from ċeariġ — “careful; pensive; chary, wary; anxious, sad, sorrowful; dire, grievous”
  5. inherited from cearig
  6. inherited from chari

Definitions

  1. Careful, cautious, shy, wary.

    • The Charieſt maide is prodigall enough, / If ſhe vnmaske hir beautie to the Moone.
    • [E]ls is he chary and wary to lay himſelfe open to any daunger, if the finall end of his endeauour and toile bee not plauſible in his demurring judgement.
    • [Y]our Women of Honour, as you call 'em, are only chary of their reputations, not their Perſons, and 'tis ſcandal they wou'd avoid, not Men: [...]

  2. Excessively particular or fussy about details

    Excessively particular or fussy about details; fastidious.

  3. Not disposed to give freely

    Not disposed to give freely; not lavish; frugal, sparing.

    • Oh! look not thus o'erjoy'd, for if I thought / We e'er could meet again this side the grave, / Trust me, I had been charier of my tenderness.
    • The house had a projecting window, where the poet [Percy Bysshe Shelley] loved to sit with book in hand, and catch, according to his custom, the maximum of sunlight granted by a chary English summer.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. Cared for, regarded as precious

      Cared for, regarded as precious; cherished.

      • The bounty so much delighted mine host, that he ran to fill the stirrup-cup (for which no charge was ever made) from a butt yet charier than that which he had pierced for the former stoup.

    2. Synonym of charily

      Synonym of charily: carefully, cautiously, warily.

      • O therefore loue be of thy ſelfe ſo wary, / As I not for my ſelfe, but for thee will, / Bearing thy heart, which I will keep ſo chary / As tender nurſe her babe from faring ill, [...]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for chary. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA