Noun and adjective.
Pronunciation and accent: nɪgəd.
Etymology:
of uncertain origin.
As a noun (plural: niggards):
1. A
person who grudges spending or giving something, or who is parsimonious, by
stinting himself or someone else of something; someone who scrimps.
Antonyms: prodigal, waster
Synonyms: miser, churlish, curmudgeon, stinter
Translation: tacaño, in Spanish; gretto, in Italian; avare, in French.
I must get
money from these niggards by some means.
Louisa
Costello… The queen’s poisoner
[…] these niggards in science, who are incapable of appropriating the monies they receive
except to their own pockets.
The lancet
London, vol. 2
[…] the
charitable of yesterday became the niggards of to-day.
Letitia
Landon… Lady Anne Granard
-) With the preposition of + noun of what is grudged or reserved:
[My uncle] was ever a
niggard of his ducats to me.
James Grant… Adventures
of an Aide-de-camp
2. A person who grudges himself or to someone else something incorporeal
(an act, favour, etc.)
-) With the preposition of + noun of what is grudged or reserved:
He was a niggard of that exercise that might have
secured his life.
William
Betham… The baronetage of England
He
welcomed her with a glad embrace; for of late she had been rather a niggard of her presence, and had taught her husband to
value her smiles, by making them more rare.
George Rainsford…
A book of the passions
[…] if I
entertained any doubts of his merits, they would have been removed by the high
terms in which I have heard his name mentioned by one who is a niggard of praise.
William
Taylor… Notes of a tour…
[I] waited
early the next morning upon Mr. Bennett —a sour, hard-grained, wiry fellow, and
about as great a niggard of his
words as he was by reputation of his money.
William Russell… Recollections…
As an adjective: 1. Who grudges spending or giving
something, or who is parsimonious, by stinting himself or someone else of
something.
Antonyms: generous, liberal, munificent,
lavish
Synonyms: miserly, parsimonious, niggardly,
penurious, chinchy, unlavish, scrimpy, scrimping, illiberal.
Translation: tacaño, in Spanish; gretto, in Italian; avare, in French.
He had the best of
wine; kept an excellent table; was himself no niggard host.
Harrison Ainsworth… Rookwood
[…] although his niggard father refused
him the sum necessary for the expense of his journey, the young prince
proceeded so expeditiously in his suit, that on the day after his arrival at
Ghent the nuptials were celebrated.
Edward Smedley… The
history of France
-) With the preposition of + noun of what is grudged or reserved:
For sixty miles I never
could extract from him aught more extensive than a monosyllable; and throughout
the journey, the beer-swilling beast was niggard of speech.
Bentley’s miscellany,
vol. 18
[Richard] had a
household consisting of ten thousand persons, of whom three hundred were cooks.
The expenses of his table were defrayed by Parliament; and when Parliament was niggard of supplies, he
sent out his purveyors, and collected provisions and money as if in an enemy’s
land.
James White… History of
England
Nor shall we ever be niggard of good wishes when we think and speak of you, dear readers.
The Edinburgh literary
journal, vol. 1
They were not to be niggard of the means, nor yet lavish of expense.
The Universal magazine,
vol. 99
I have never been
disposed to be niggard of cheerfulness…
James Runciman… Side
Lights
2. Given or spent either in a grudging manner, or in
order to scrimp; resulting from niggardliness.
Synonyms: scanty, unlavish, niggardly,
ungenerous.
Antonyms: munificent, generous, lavish.
[He] had had a niggard amount of
viands prepared…
Eliza Meteyard… Mainstone’s
housekeeper
Morning and
evening we were brought a niggard allowance of bread and water; but the man
who carried it bore no light, and may not even have observed their absence.
Mary Johnston…
To Have and To Hold
3. (Of an action) done as if by scrimping or in a
grudging manner; little.
[…] with niggard care.
The Dublin
University magazine, vol. 36
4. (Abusive acceptation) of a space and quantity: narrow, small, little, etc.
He had only been
enabled to discover, in the niggard strata of the lands within range of his travel,
a few scanty morsels of the glorious substance.
Edward
Bulwer-Lytton… A Strange Story
Other
English words derived from niggard: niggardize, niggardliness, niggardly (adj., adv.),
niggardness.
