| 释义 |
povertyn. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French poverté, poverte. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman poverté, povertee, povertez, povertie, povreté, poreté and Old French, Middle French poverté, Middle French povertie (Middle French, French pauvreté ), destitution (12th cent.), (of land) state of unproductivity (1225–30), lack, scarcity (1549; 1310 in poverté de ), state of deficiency (16th cent.), also (compare β forms) Anglo-Norman poverte, povert and Old French, Middle French poverte destitution (11th cent.; probably after Old French poeste , variant of poesté power) < classical Latin paupertās < pauper poor (see pauper n. and adj.) + -tās (see -ty suffix1). Compare poortith n.The analysis of the spelling history presents several points of difficulty. It is often unclear whether forms with final -e belong properly with either the α or β groups; all such forms have here been placed in the α group except where there is clear metrical evidence to the contrary. Even in verse the underlying forms may be masked by elision, and additionally the stress pattern shown by the word in Middle English verse varies greatly. Also (as with the early forms of poor adj.), the ambiguity of the graphs u and v before the 17th cent. means that the pronunciation of many early forms is uncertain, as is the allocation of some of the forms to either α or γ. It is also uncertain to what extent the γ forms show phonetic development within the present word (or in the Anglo-Norman word), and to what extent they show alteration by association with poor adj. (compare also poortith n.). I. Destitution. 1. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] α. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris (1868) 1st Ser. 143 (MED) Þer scal beon worldwunne wiðuten pouerte. c1230 (?a1200) (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 19 Alle seke & sarie þet wa & pouerte þolieð. ?c1335 in W. Heuser (1904) 94 (MED) Riȝt as he com, he sal wend in wo and pine and pouerte. c1390 G. Chaucer 2754 Therfore clepeth Cassidore pouerte [v.r. pouert] the moder of ruyne. 1430–1 IV. 386/1 She is broght in so grete povertee that she hase noo gode whereof to sue longure at the comwne lawe. 1489 (a1380) J. Barbour (Adv.) iii. 551 And gret anoyis and powerte [rhyme pite]. a1513 W. Dunbar (1998) I. 169 With powertie I hald him schent. 1526 W. Bonde i. sig. Dviiiv The thre vowes, obedience, chastite, & wylfull pouerty. 1562 J. Heywood (1869) 165 Pouertee partth felowship, thats not trewe euer, Pouertie in beggers partth felowship neuer. 1615 W. Lawson (1626) 9 Let no man hauing a fit plot plead pouerty in this case. 1671 J. Milton ii. 415 A Carpenter thy Father known, thy self Bred up in poverty and streights at home. View more context for this quotation 1764 G. G. Beekman Let. 30 Jan. in (1956) i. 458 Chambers Tells me that you must have a very Considerable Estate Left you notwithstanding your Pleading Poverty. 1798 T. R. Malthus v. 90 It is better that it [sc. population] should be checked from a foresight of the difficulties attending a family, and the fear of dependent poverty. 1836 C. Dickens (1837) xxii. 227 It's a wery remarkable circumstance..that poverty and oysters always seem to go together. 1869 L. M. Alcott II. xx. 304 For poverty enriches those who live above it, and is a sure passport to truly hospitable spirits. 1879 Dec. 299/1 By dint of borrowing $25 here, $30 there, $50 in another place..they managed to get through the ceremony without confessing their poverty. 1944 S. Bellow 86 My father blamed himself bitterly for the poverty that forced him to bring us up in a slum and worried lest I see too much. 1989 A. Storr i. 4 Freud was extremely neat in dress and appearance, even when early poverty made this difficult. 2003 1 Sept. 6/3 The report warns that the ‘new oldies’ will be less accepting of pensioner poverty than those before them, and will demand more from the welfare state. the mind > emotion > humility > [noun] c1350 (?c1300) (Rawl. C. 655) 128 Blessed be þe poure in wille Þat here pouert soffreþ stille. c1400 (?c1380) l. 13 Þay arn happen [= happy] þat han in hert pouerte. c1600 (?c1395) (Trin. Cambr. R.3.15) (1873) 778 Ne Helye ne Austen swiche lijf neuer vsed But in pouerte of spirit spended her tyme. 1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade I. xi. 278 Poverty of Spirit is an Abstraction of the Mind from the Mean and Despicable Trifles of the World. 1759 tr. C. H. von Bogatzky ii. v. 190 We must acknowledge ourselves great sinners, and appear before God in deep humiliation, and poverty of spirit. 1800 G. Burder II. 5 We hear not a word of true humility, poverty of spirit, sense of sin, or hope in Jesus. 1845 W. A. Caruthers xii. 45 I was suffering the pains of self-condemnation, during the whole sermon, for lacking that greatest essential in the Christian character, that very poverty of spirit so admirably described. a1896 A. McLachlan (1900) 216 Look Fate and Fortune in the face, In that there's worth and merit; The greatest poverty on earth Is poverty of spirit. 1949 25 Feb. 5/7 Not poverty in spirit, but physical strength, brute force, aggressiveness, conquest, and dominance, have been the historic and characteristic ends of worldly kingdoms. 1997 (Nexis) 26 Feb. 224 Her poverty of spirit, a great gift to our age, would forbid the expensive puffing of baroque sainthood. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > personified c1400 (?c1380) l. 31 (MED) Dame Pouert, dame Pitee, dame Penaunce þe þrydde. 1402 Reply Friar Daw Topias in T. Wright (1861) II. 56 Poerte preamblis to presse aforne Anticristis comyng. c1440 (?a1375) Abbey Holy Ghost (Thornton) in G. G. Perry (1914) 51 Thies two maydenes sall be made; þe one es callede ‘Meke~nes’..the toþer es callede ‘Pouerte’. a1500 (?a1450) (BL Add. 9066) (1879) 355 Ihesu crist..hathe ij doughtirs, one faire, that is, the worlde..and the other doughtir blak, that is, poverte or tribulacion, that few men desiren for to wedde. 1605 A. Warren (title) Poore Mans Passions & Pouerties Patience. 1674 T. Duffett iii. iv. 36 Poverty's no Virtue doubting Fool. 1737 W. Havard ii. ii. 19 The Wretch Clad with Disease and Poverty's thin Coat, Yet holds thee fast, tho' painful Company. 1798 R. Anderson 43 Ye gay deck'd sons of Pride and Wealth..Who spurn at humble Poverty's hard fare. 1813 Ld. Byron (ed. 4) 15 Alike must Wealth and Poverty Pass heedless and unheeded by. 1887 J. R. Lowell 28 Poverty pays with its person the chief expenses of war, pestilence and famine. 1890 Christmas No. 147 Several loaves..to be distributed..to whatsoever of orthodox poverty the..parish may enclose. 1938 ‘G. Orwell’ vi. 105 It made me sick to think of the..poverty that was obliged to use flint in place of steel. 1992 M. Anderson 21 She [sc. a dog] lets the kids put scarves and ski caps on her head until she starts to resemble the women who have to dress from rummage sales in poverty's mismatched polyester. 2005 (Nexis) 18 Jan. 3 The aim was to stem the fearful poverty that stalked the countryside and spilled over into drunkenness and disruption in the town of Brecon. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] a1500 (?c1450) 59 (MED) Many provertees [read povertees] and grete suffraites suffred oure lorde her in erthe for oure sake. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. (1882–7) lxv. 224 Ye paynes, trauelles, and pouertyes that I enduryd. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. (1882–7) cxxxi. 482 When I remembre the paynes, and dolours, and pouerties, that by my cause ye suffer. 1574 R. Scot To Rdr. It were better..that Straungers shoulde enuie our prosperities, than our Friendes shoulde pittie our pouerties. 1593 T. Lodge sig. B2 The peny father by his power, should ouerpresse the penilesse in their pouerties. 1701 J. Pulleyn 18 What have we comparable to the Afflictions, which many others groan under? Their Pains and Sicknesses, their Poverties and Oppressions. 1773 T. Boston 203 Such are public calamities and distresses, as war, famine, and pestilence, all bodily pains and sickness, poverties and pinching straits, and whatever is grievous and afflictive to men. None of these..come by chance. 1862 Jan. 67/2 With that nameless ease which betokens high social position, and, no embarrassing pressure of the poverties and humilities of life, he was to me the triumphant embodiment of what I should have been. 1881 H. James II. xv. 185 She..loved him, not for what he really possessed, but for his very poverties dressed out as honours. 1892 ‘M. Twain’ 60 The household poverties..had been made to blossom like the rose. 1959 26 Jan. a3/2 They became painfully aware of the desperate poverties and evils of Spain's social structure. 1993 (Nexis) 11 Oct. 12 Food is not the answer to the multiple poverties surrounding the cities. Large-scale social and economic policy initiatives are the only hope out there. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poor person > poor people or the poor a1450 (c1435) J. Lydgate Life SS. Edmund & Fremund (Harl.) 1487 in C. Horstmann (1881) 2nd Ser. 439 (MED) Pray for knyhthod..Pray for the lawe..Pray for the plowh, pray for the pouerte. c1450 J. Capgrave (Arun. 396) (1893) i. 731 (MED) To lord and to lady and to povert bowe [read lowe], Ful foyson was there on-to euery manne. 1537 J. London in H. Ellis (1824) 1st Ser. II. 80 The multytude of the poverty of the Town resortyd thedyr. 1598 J. Marston i. iv. sig. D4v If to the parrish pouertie, At his wisht death, be dol'd a halfe-penny. society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > company of instrumentalists > [noun] > company of pipers a1450 Terms Assoc. in (1936) 51 604 (MED) A Pouerte of pypers. 1486 sig. f vj b A Pauuerty of pypers. a1637 B. Jonson Masque of Gypsies 69* in tr. Horace (1640) Musick! we'll have a whole poverty of Pipers, call Cheeks upon the Bag-pipes, & Tom Ticklefoot with his Tabor. 1801 J. Strutt i. i. 17 A state of princes, a skulk of friars,..a melody of harpers; a poverty of pipers; a drunkenship of coblers; [etc.]. 1966 19 Apr. 4/2 Groups of humans, as well as beasts, have collective names now nearly buried in the dusts of time. One can speak of a state of princes, a skulk of thieves,..a poverty of pipers (many such were beggars), [etc.]. 1992 (Nexis) 14 Dec. 5 b Some of the pre-Tudor St. Albans nomenclature ventures well beyond terms of hunting or hawking. Thus we encounter a prudence of vicars, an obeisance of servants, a drought of bottlers, a poverty of pipers and, of course, a cluster of grapes. II. Deficiency. the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > [noun] society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > weakness or feebleness > [noun] > baldness a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 11 (MED) I knewe myn owne pouert, and schamede..after so noble spekers..to putte forþ my bareyn speche. a1425 (c1395) (Royal) (1850) Prov. vi. 32 He that is avouter schal leese his soule for the pouert [a1382 E.V. miseise; L. inopiam] of herte. c1450 (c1400) (Huntington) (1942) 130 (MED) Þe first degree of mekenesse is for to knowe his pouertes and his defautes. 1597 F. Bacon v. f. 23v By imputing to all excellencie in compositions a kind of pouertie or..a casualty or ieopardy. 1609 W. Shakespeare ciii. sig. G2 Alack, what pouerty my Muse brings forth, That hauing such a skope to show her pride, The argument all bare is of more worth Then when it hath my added praise beside. View more context for this quotation 1669 W. Charleton Mysterie of Vintners in 154 The grand and proxime Cause seems to be their jejuness and poverty of spirits. 1741 I. Watts i. i. 9 The Poverty of your Understanding. 1786 J. Bowdler I. 225 The same metaphor is used to express different sentiments, which from the poverty of language upon such subjects must sometimes happen. 1829 S. J. B. Hale 155 I can do it all, I can bear it all,..if I may but escape poverty of mind—this sense of my own ignorance that oppresses me, whenever I approach or attempt to converse with an intelligent person. 1881 J. Broadhouse 161 The peculiar quality of tone commonly called poverty, as opposed to richness, arises from the upper partials being comparatively too strong for the prime tone. 1910 I. 300/1 The second solution is that every sensation has its specific affective quality, though by reason of the poverty of language many of these have no name. 1936 A. J. Ayer iii. 80 We, however, are obliged to mention material things when we wish to describe certain sense-contents, because the poverty of our language is such that we have no other verbal means of explaining what their properties are. 2005 (Nexis) 9 May 32 Ever get the feeling there is a poverty of imagination in the TV business? the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > unproductiveness > [noun] the mind > possession > non-possession > [noun] > state of being devoid of something > lacking or being without something the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [noun] > state of being limited in amount > scarcity, dearth, or deficient supply of anything tr. Palladius (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. 331 Yf vyne abounde In leef & haue of fruyt but pouerte. tr. Palladius (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xi. 270 (MED) Yf pouerte appere in their [sc. bees'] sellis, That robbeth hem, wel worthy go to helle is. c1570 J. Leslie (1830) 154 To the greit hinder and povartie of the hole realme. 1623 in L. B. Taylor (1942) I. 212 In this tyme of pouvirtie and dearthe. 1776 E. Gibbon I. ix. 236 The face of a German army displayed their poverty of iron. 1787 T. Jefferson Let. 11 Apr. in (1955) XI. 284 Calculating on the poverty of their soil, and their climate by its latitude only, they should have been the poorest in France. 1848 J. F. Cooper v. 75 A means, by which the poverty of ports on the great lakes may be remedied. 1880 S. Haughton v. 209 The extraordinary poverty of north and north-eastern Africa in river-producing power. 1895 H. P. Robinson 66 The poverty and crudity of the available supply of domestic help. 1931 M. Longaker i. 44 In the brief sketches there is a poverty of biographical fact; they do not provide, for instance, dates of birth and death. 1976 R. Bundy i. 7 All the writers agree on the necessity for shared, inspiring images in human affairs and also that there is currently a poverty of such images to guide us through the difficult years ahead. 1999 J. L. Thompson ii. 28 The ban on information concerning the BEF and serious cable delays led to a poverty of real news. the world > health and disease > ill health > [noun] > weakness > due to ill-nourishment the world > life > the body > bodily shape or physique > slim shape or physique > [noun] > thin shape > state of having a1475 Dis. Hawk (Harl. 2340) f. 27v, in at Poverte Yf þu kepe þi hawke hye, þu schall not sowse hir, for in pouerte sche takis all maner of sekenessis. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart I. i. ccclxxii. 613 Sometyme they coulde get nothynge for money, so that their horses dyed for pouertie and colde. ?1523 J. Fitzherbert f. xxx The ewes..woll nat take the ramme at the tyme of the yere for pouertie, but go barren. 1638 W. Rawley tr. F. Bacon 42 A strict Emaciating Dyet..doth first bring Men to great Povertie and Leannesse, by wasting the Juyces and Humours of the Body. 1733 P. Miller (ed. 2) sig. 6D/1 The Trees are render'd more vigorous and healthy, scarcely ever having any Moss or other Marks of Poverty. 1889 H. R. Haggard 284 The ox..will..from mere maliciousness die of ‘poverty’. Compounds the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > non-British grasses > [noun] > North American the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > heather or heath and similar plants > [noun] > false heath 1832 30 Apr. 2/3 Fields..long given up to barrenness and poverty-grass, are now broken up in readiness to receive the grain. a1862 H. D. Thoreau (1865) ii. 20 A moss-like plant, Hudsonia tomentosa..called ‘poverty-grass’, because it grew where nothing else would. 1878 J. B. Killebrew xix. 232 Aristida Dichotoma... It is called poverty grass because it is seldom seen except on old barren fields, too poor for cultivation. 1935 W. C. Muenscher i. ii. 43 Native herbs and shrubby species often encroach on the pasture... The early stages of such a change may consist largely of ‘poverty-grasses’, foxtail grass, wild asters, and goldenrods. 1988 Mar. 66/3 There is sand everywhere—not polite, pristine ovals of it around the greens, but great, treacherous expanses of it, filled with ball-eating patches of poverty grass, scotch broom, and other nasty flora. 1891 T. Stevens xv. 242 This, among the poverty-hardened moujiks was..not to be expected, nor desired. 2003 (Nexis) 19 Oct. 4 In this poverty-hardened society..she was not seen as especially saintly. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poverty level 1922 13 Mar. 5/2 Every person knows that it is impossible to keep a family above the poverty level on $13.50 a week. 1989 Aug. 56/1 Now, like most other New Yorkers above the poverty level, I receive almost forty different channels. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poverty level 1890 June 173/1 Class E, composed of those who have regular standard workingmen's earnings of above the poverty line, includes 42.3 per cent. 1968 E. Brill vi. 89 He had little of the sharp business acumen that goes with the making of money on a big scale, but this is not evidence that he or his family were ever on the poverty line. 1990 25 Aug. 492/2 The proportion of children living on less than half average income, the nearest there is to an official..poverty line, increased from 12% to 26%. 1890 Poverty-plant, a cistaceous plant, Hudsonia tomentosa, a little heath-like shrub of sandy shores. 1955 13 Apr. 14/3 Heather, which grows in Scotland on land too poor to support grass is called ‘poverty plant’ by the British. 1997 (Nexis) 3 Nov. 1 Dog fennel is a ‘poverty plant’ that thrives in areas where land is in transition. 1985 Winter 26/1 There had recently been a rash of documentaries, but, having spent six years in Shit City, Patricia couldn't get off on poverty porn. 2000 14 Feb. (G2 section) 21/3 Programme makers go through the motions of saying they want to raise awareness.., but the truth is that they're exploiting an increasing appetite for social deprivation as glamorous tableaux. Poverty porn, if you like. 2012 (Nexis) 28 May (Comment section) 14 The result of all this poverty porn..is that Westerners see the [African] continent as one benighted and dangerous country, not a vibrant, inventive and increasingly-successful collection of 54 diverse nations. 2019 C. Carraway (2020) xi. 223 The next morning groups of journalists arrive to meet us outside Kensington town hall. They're here to create poverty porn from abused women. society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > poor-relief > systems of 1964 5 Mar. 21/4 The President's message on the poverty program is expected to go to Congress Friday. 1971 Apr. 10 Who subsist on such foreign aid programs as ‘welfare’ and ‘poverty programs’. 1992 18 Jan. 39/2 Those who have exhausted their unemployment pay..face the prospect of running down their assets until they qualify for poverty programmes. society > trade and finance > financial dealings > moneylending > [noun] > pawnshop society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > other types of shop 1948 R. Glass iv. ii. 161 Newport Road is famous for its ‘poverty shops’: fried fish shops, pawnbrokers and junkshops. 1961 E. A. Powdrill iii. 44 A study of social rank will normally involve an examination of..poverty shops (fish and chips, secondhand dealers, pawnbrokers, etc.). 2004 (Nexis) 24 Jan. 12 I do have loads of empty, run-down shops to stare into, a tattoo shop, a chip shop and a Lib-Dem-backed ‘Helping Hands’ poverty shop for all my family shopping needs. the mind > possession > poverty > [adjective] > poor > reduced to poverty 1819 13 June 371/1 The poverty-smitten town of Marlow. 1852 June 536/2 The comfortably circumstanced peasantry of ‘Merrie old England’..desired nothing stronger than home-brewed ale; but their poverty-smitten descendants thirst for gin, and die by thousands from drinking to excess. 2001 (Nexis) 21 Feb. The relatively high rail-route population ratio in Bihar and Orissa has not helped these poverty-smitten states. the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > poverty with dependence on public relief > poverty trap 1972 16 Feb. 4/2 One of the underlying causes of the dispute was the deep sense of frustration felt by hundreds of thousands of workers that they were increasingly caught in a poverty trap from which they could not escape without disproportionately large wage increases. 1980 J. A. Pechman in R. E. Caves & L. B. Krause 219 Those who are beneficiaries of the welfare system or receive social security or unemployment benefits are subject to the highest marginal tax rates, creating a ‘poverty trap’, which is the subject of great concern in the United Kingdom. 1996 W. Hutton (rev. ed.) viii. 196 Before the insistence that there should be no disincentives to work, no poverty traps, no excessive tax burdens and all the rest, the defenders of the status quo quailed. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Scrophulariaceae (figwort and allies) > [noun] > cow-wheat 1847 J. O. Halliwell II Poverty-weed, purple cow-wheat. A weed growing in corn, having a fine large flower, yellow, pale red, and purple; it is very injurious, and betokens a poor, light, stony soil. 1876 C. E. Hobbs 92 Poverty weed, Life everlasting, Gnaphalium polycephalum. 1906 J. Vaughan 78 Its local name [sc. near the Undercliff on the Isle of Wight] was ‘Poverty weed’, with reference..to the way in which it impoverished the soil. 1942 W. W. Robbins et al. 475 Grazing animals avoid povertyweed [sc. Iva axillaris], probably because of its rank unpleasant odour. 1950 J. E. Lousley v. 76 At one time it [sc. purple cow-wheat] was so abundant on two farms [near Ventnor] that the seeds ground up with the wheat discoloured the flour and rendered it unmarketable. Hence it became known locally as Poverty Weed. 1998 (Nexis) 2 July d2 It [sc. Antennaria] has also been referred to as early everlasting.., Indian tobacco, and poverty weed. This last assignation is often used to refer to plants that survive or even thrive on poor soil. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  n.a1225 |
