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niggard

adj
/ˈnɪɡɚd/US/ˈnɪɡəd/UK

Etymology

From Middle English nigard, nygard (“miser”), from nig (“niggardly person”), possibly of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Icelandic hnøggr (“miserly, stingy”), Old Norse *hniggw, with descendants Swedish njugg (“stingy”), dialectal Swedish niggla (“be stingy”), dialectal Norwegian nigla. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hnauwjaz, source of Old English hneaw (“stingy”), replaced by Middle English nig. Possibly cognate to niggle (“miser”). Compare German Knicker (“niggard”), knickerig (“niggardly”). Unrelated to the word nigger, but see the usage notes.

  1. derived from *hnauwjaz✻
  2. inherited from nigard

Definitions

  1. Sparing

    Sparing; stinting; parsimonious.

  2. Miserly or stingy.

    • It was, however, the pleasure of his niggard and unhappy fortune, that in seeking a place proper for his accommodation, he and Dapple tumbled into a deep and very dark pit, among a number of old buildings.

  3. A miser or stingy person

    A miser or stingy person; a skinflint.

    • Then beautious nigard why dooſt thou abuſe / The bountious largeſſe giuen thee to giue?
    • All his pleasures were social; and while health and fortune smiled upon him, he was no niggard either of his time or talents to those who needed them.
    • ‘No niggard are you, Éomer,’ said Aragorn, ‘to give thus to Gondor the fairest thing in your realm!’
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A false bottom in a grate, used for saving fuel.

      • 1833, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Godolphin It was evening: he ordered a fire and lights; and, leaning his face on his hand as he contemplated the fitful and dusky upbreakings of the flame through the bars of the niggard and contracted grate […]
      • 1851, From a catalog of the Great Exhibition Cooking apparatus, adapted for an opening eight feet wide, by five feet high, and containing an open-fire roasting range, with sliding spit-racks and winding cheek or niggard;
      • Neither this nor the Brompton house have a kitchen-range (that is, Grate like the Miles's), but only a grate with moveable niggards etc.

    2. To hoard

      To hoard; to act stingily.

      • Within thine owne bud burieſt thy content, / And tender chorle makſt waſt in niggarding: […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for niggard. 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