penury

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)Extreme need or want; destitution, poverty; (countable) an instance of this.

   “As he [Jesus] behelde⸝ he ſawe the ryche men⸝ howe they caſt in their offeringꝭ [offeringis] into the treſury. He ſawe alſo a certayne povre widdowe⸝ which caſt ĩ [in] thydre two mytes. And he ſaid: of a trueth I ſaye vnto you⸝ this povre widdowe hath putt in moare thẽ [then, i.e., than] they all. For they all have of their ſuperfluyte added vnto the offeringe off God: But ſhe⸝ of her penury⸝ hath caſt in all the ſubſtaunce that ſhe hadde.”

   “[W]hat prodigall portion haue I ſpent, that I ſhould come to ſuch penury?”

   “In all labour there is profit: but the talke of the lippes tendeth onely to penury.”

   “[N]ow God comes to thee, […] as the sun in noon, to illustrate all shadows, as the sheaves in harvest, to fill all penuries, all occasions invite his mercies, and all times are his seasons.”

   “The poore people in Corinth did ſee, and ſmell, vvhat the rich men taſted, Tantalizing all the vvhile, and having their penury doubled by the Antiperiſtaſis of others plenty; yea, ryot and exceſſe, for ſome of them vvere drunken.”

2. (countable, poetic, usually)Often followed by of: a lack of something; a dearth, a scarcity.

   “VVith theſe and many others as conſiderable, vvhich partly vvillingly, and partly in the penury of Books, forgettingly I paſſe, […]”

   “In early youth I laboured under a peculiar embarrassment and penury of words, which I sought to convey my thoughts adequately upon interesting subjects: […]”

   “No! penury, inertness and grimace, / In some strange sort, were the land's portion.”

   “Miseries are the quasi-animal penuries of human beings (hunger, disease, death, etc.); disquiets are the penuries specific to human beings (solitude, disappointment, frustration, etc.); and sufferings are a combination of miseries and disquiets.”

3. (obsolete, uncountable, usually)The quality of being miserly; miserliness, parsimoniousness, stinginess.

   “God ſometimes puniſhes one ſinne vvith another; pride vvith adultery, drunkenneſſe vvith murder, careleſeneſſe vvith irreligion, idleneſſe vvith vanity, penury vvith oppreſſion, irreligion vvith blaſphemy, and that vvith Atheiſme, and therefore it is no vvonder if he puniſhes a ſinner by a ſinner.”

   “Let them not ſtill be obſtinately blind, / Still to divert the Good thou haſt deſign'd, / Or vvith Malignant penury, / To ſterve the Royal Vertues of his Mind.”

   “Jenk[ins]. Prithee, novv you are in Spirits, give me a Portrait of Sir Penurious; […] I knovv no more of him than the common Country Converſation; that he is a thrifty, vvary Man. / Har[top]. The very Abſtract of Penury!”