meagrelymeagerlyadv.
/ˈmiːɡəli/, U.S. /ˈmiɡərli/ In a meagre manner; sparsely; meanly, sparingly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [adverb] > scantily or meagrely
feeblyc1290
scarcely1340
scantc1440
scantly1509
daintilya1513
barelya1535
thinly1537
leanly1580
meagrelya1586
starvedly1606
exile1654
scantily1774
skimpingly1853
skimpily1859
stintedly1863
barrenly1877
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xxv. sig. Yy4 Alas thou helpest meagerly, When once one is for Atropos distrained.
1616 J. Lane Contin. Squire's Tale xi. 334 Next came a knight..vppon a pale horse, meagerlie bestridd in armor, plumes, caparisone all pale.
1799 C. B. Brown Edgar Huntly III. xxi. 34 A wild heath, whistled over by October blasts, meagrely adorned with the dry stalks of scented shrubs and the bald heads of the sapless mullen.
1833 H. Martineau Three Ages ii. 71 An hospital, meagrely supplied with the comforts.
1878 F. Harrison in Fortn. Rev. Nov. 689 Austin has treated these questions somewhat meagrely.
1886 W. J. Tucker Life E. Europe 179 A meagrely furnished room.
1940 New Statesman 21 Dec. 649 They will..have to eat as meagrely as their couponed fellow-citizens.
1987 I. Murdoch Bk. & Brotherhood ii. 119 Gerard..sat down..beside the fire in one of the upright meagrely upholstered wooden-armed chairs.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.a1586