parsimoniousadj.

Brit.

/ˌpɑːsᵻˈməʊnɪəs/, U.S.

/ˌpɑrsəˈmoʊniəs/,

/ˌpɑrsəˈmoʊnjəs/

Forms: 1500s–1700s parcimonious, 1500s– parsimonious, 1600s percimonious.

Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by derivation. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: parsimony n.; Latin parsimōnia , -ous suffix.

Etymology: < parsimony n. or its etymon classical Latin parsimōnia + -ous suffix; compare -ious suffix. Compare Italian parsimonioso (1598 in Florio).

a. Of a person: characterized by or using parsimony; tight-fisted, mean. In early use also in positive sense: thrifty, frugal; (of a person's expenditure) economical, sparing. Cf. parsimony n. 1a, 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > retaining > sparingness or frugality > [adjective]

sparingc1386

savingc1440

husbandlya1450

husbandlike1542

spareful1565

chary1570

dainty1576

partial1576

spare1577

parsimonious?1591

spary1601

scant1603

wary1605

frugala1616

spare-handed1626

squeasy1628

canny1725

scrimp1728

scrimping1823

sparesome1864

stinting1867

hard-arsed1893

the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [adjective]

gnedec900

gripplea1000

fastOE

narrow-hearteda1200

narrow?c1225

straitc1290

chinchc1300

nithinga1325

scarcec1330

clama1340

hard1340

scantc1366

sparingc1386

niggardc1400

chinchy?1406

retentivea1450

niggardousa1492

niggish1519

unliberal1533

pinching1548

dry1552

nigh1555

niggardly1560

churlish1566

squeamish1566

niggardish1567

niggard-like1567

holding1569

spare1577

handfast1578

envious1580

close-handed1585

hard-handed1587

curmudgeonly1590

parsimonious?1591

costive1594

hidebound1598

penny-pinching1600

penurious1600

strait-handed1600

club-fisted1601

dry-fisted1604

fast-handed1605

fast-fingered1607

close-fisted1608

near1611

scanting1613

carkingc1620

illiberal1623

clutch-fisteda1634

hideboundeda1640

clutch-fista1643

clunch-fisted1644

unbounteous1645

hard-fisted1646

purse-bound1652

close1654

stingy1659

tenacious1676

scanty1692

sneaking1696

gripe-handed1698

narrow-souled1699

niggardling1704

snippy1727

unindulgent1742

shabby1766

neargoinga1774

cheesemongering1781

split-farthing1787

save-all1788

picked1790

iron-fisted1794

unhandsome1800

scaly1803

nearbegoing1805

tight1805

nippit1808

nipcheese1819

cumin-splitting1822

partan-handed1823

scrimping1823

scrumptious1823

scrimpy1825

meanly1827

skinny1833

pinchfisted1837

mean1840

tight-fisted1843

screwy1844

stinty1849

cheeseparing1857

skinflinty1886

mouly1904

mingy1911

cheapskate1912

picey1937

tight-assed1961

chintzy1964

tightwad1976

?1591 H. Barrow Brief Discouerie False Church 149 The cheif of their auditory are more parcimonious & couetous.

1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 238 Being so percimonious and sparing in his expences.

1604 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. H Such a parsimonious sparer was Lewes II...that he wore..clothes of the coursest stuffe.

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. iii. 10 Afterward he proved most parcimonious.

1697 T. D'Urfey Intrigues at Versailles ii. ii. 15 For my part, I had as live be in the Bastile, and order'd to feed upon Bread and Water, as be Confin'd to the sneaking allowance that a Parsimonious Husband shall bestow on me.

1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator IV. xx. 99 He grew extremely parsimonious, and at last quite covetous:—He retrenched the Number of his Servants, the Dishes on his Table.

1766 S. Scott Sir George Ellison II. iv. iii. 159 Her father,..being grown cautious with age, and parcimonious by nature,..feared some accident might deprive her of a blessing she was too slow in accepting.

1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. ii. 38 Mr Oldbuck was habitually parsimonious.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §3. 364 Her expenditure was parsimonious and even miserly.

1918 W. Cather My Ántonia iii. i. 294 He was, I discovered, parsimonious about small expenditures.

1940 Jrnl. Philos. 37 567 To allow such attribution would not be parsimonious, but indeed prodigal.

1991 Observer 7 July 20/8 I think they are all parsimonious, cheese-paring, gut-scrimping bean-counters.

b. Of a person or thing: sparing in the giving or using of something abstract, as emotion, good fortune, words, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > retaining > sparingness or frugality > [adjective] > of immaterial things

parsimonious1596

the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [adjective] > with immaterial things

parsimonious1596

1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. M2^v Ceremonies of reuerence to the greatest States (as it were not the fashion of his cuntray) he was very parsimonious and niggardly of.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Fiditio, a kind of parcimonious feasting among the Lacademonians.

1607 J. Marston What you Will v. i He..cryes betwixt the teeth, as very parcimonious of breath, good boy, good Sinior, good boy.

1649 J. Quarles Kingly Bed of Miserie 3 His tongue was parsimonious.

a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) IX. 212 These are those inexorable spiritual Cato's, those parsimonious dispensers of mercy.

1784 J. S. Murray Desultory Thoughts 252 Should those to whom nature had been parsimonious, be tortured by me.

1865 J. R. Seeley Ecce Homo (ed. 8) i. 4 They asked, is God so little parsimonious of his noblest gift.

1909 J. London in Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 20 Nov. 8/1 Two more rounds went by, in which King was parsimonious of effort and Sandel prodigal.

1992 Matrix Summer 5/2 It was a very cool, Northern European environment to grow up in, a bit parsimonious with praise, warmth and acceptance.

2003 Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Sask.) (Nexis) 15 Mar. a3 No one can have confidence in a police commission that is so parsimonious with the truth.

2. Of a thing: poor, meagre, scanty; spec. (of land) unproductive, barren.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > wild or uncultivated land > [adjective] > barren or desert

barren1377

desert1393

bleaka1552

blunt1553

foodless1581

bleach1598

landless1606

desertuous1632

bald1642

bleaky1687

parsimonious1713

Saharan1849

deserty1891

Saharic1892

Saharian1897

desertic1936

scalded1936

the mind > possession > poverty > [adjective] > poor

havelessOE

unrichOE

waedlec1000

armOE

nakedOE

helplessc1175

wantsomec1175

poora1200

barec1220

needfula1225

misease?c1225

unwealya1300

needyc1325

feeblec1330

poorful1372

mischievousc1390

miseasedc1390

indigentc1400

meanc1400

naughtyc1400

succourless1412

unwealthyc1412

behove1413

misterousa1425

misterfulc1480

miserablec1485

beggarly1545

starved1563

threadbare1577

penurious1590

fortuneless1596

wealthless1605

wantful1607

necessitous1611

inopulent1613

titheless1615

egene1631

starveling1638

necessitated1646

inopious1656

parsimonious1782

unopulent1782

lacking1805

bushed1819

obolary1820

ill-to-do1853

down at heel1856

po'1866

needsome1870

down-at-heeled1884

rocky1921

1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 169 T'allay thy envy'd Gains, Unthought of, on the parcimonious Plains.

a1731 E. Ward Compl. Acct. Remarkable Clubs & Societies (1756) 9 Th'upper Classis..only recompence their Wit, with some poor parsimonious Treat.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia I. i. ix. 121 Her dress, though parsimonious, was too neat for a beggar.

1832 S. Warren Passages from Diary of Late Physician I. i. 20 Our parsimonious fare hardly deserved the name of food.

1903 J. M. Falkner Nebuly Coat xxi. 327 The old-fashioned farmhouses were being let fall into disrepair, and then replaced by parsimonious eaveless buildings.

1943 E. Muir Narrow Place 20 The parsimonious ground That at its best will bear A few thin blades as fine as hair.

1985 R. Davies What's bred in Bone (1986) v. 294 On his palette he laid out his colours..in small, almost parsimonious dibbets.

2003 Sunday Tribune (Dublin) (Nexis) 9 Mar. 11 The parsimonious prize-money available in these parts.

3. Of a scientific hypothesis or explanation (esp. a phylogenetic tree): assuming the simplest state, process, evolutionary pathway, etc., that is consistent with the facts or observations; in accordance with the law or principle of parsimony.

ΚΠ

1899 Amer. Naturalist 33 614 The parsimonious view is adopted by Dr. Edward Thorndike in a monograph.

1944 Jrnl. Compar. Psychol. 37 17 An explanation on a physiological level is not categorically more parsimonious and..there are problems which may be most simply and adequately solved by explanation at a psychological level.

1979 Science 7 Sept. 1037/1 The probability that..the most parsimonious tree will not be the evolutionary correct one will thus be higher.

2002 Amer. Midland Naturalist 147 287 The most parsimonious explanation for this phenomenon is that fire intensity and extent was reduced in grazed grasslands.

4. Of the functioning of an organism or natural system: exhibiting economy of action, effort, or process. Cf. parsimony n. 4. Now rare.

ΚΠ

1931 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 22 154 The animal achieves the same end with a little lick as with a big one, and the behaviour is parsimonious.

1967 S. Arieti Intrapsychic Self iii. 47 Loss of awareness in the phenomenon of habituation is a parsimonious device used constantly by the nervous system.

1976 Proc. Biennial Meeting Philos. of Sci. Assoc. 1976 2 10 What is the simplest, most parsimonious kind of gene action that could account for individual humans behaving socially in such fashions as to maximize their inclusive fitnesses?

1998 J. E. R. Staddon & B. S. Zanutto in C. D. L. Wynne & J. E. R. Staddon Models of Action vii. 242 This strategy of looking for the most parsimonious mechanism has helped us to understand the dynamics of feeding and foraging.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	parsimonious
释义	parsimoniousadj. Brit. /ˌpɑːsᵻˈməʊnɪəs/, U.S. /ˌpɑrsəˈmoʊniəs/, /ˌpɑrsəˈmoʊnjəs/ Forms: 1500s–1700s parcimonious, 1500s– parsimonious, 1600s percimonious. Origin: Either (i) formed within English, by derivation. Or (ii) a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: parsimony n.; Latin parsimōnia , -ous suffix. Etymology: < parsimony n. or its etymon classical Latin parsimōnia + -ous suffix; compare -ious suffix. Compare Italian parsimonioso (1598 in Florio). 1. a. Of a person: characterized by or using parsimony; tight-fisted, mean. In early use also in positive sense: thrifty, frugal; (of a person's expenditure) economical, sparing. Cf. parsimony n. 1a, 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > retaining > sparingness or frugality > [adjective] sparingc1386 savingc1440 husbandlya1450 husbandlike1542 spareful1565 chary1570 dainty1576 partial1576 spare1577 parsimonious?1591 spary1601 scant1603 wary1605 frugala1616 spare-handed1626 squeasy1628 canny1725 scrimp1728 scrimping1823 sparesome1864 stinting1867 hard-arsed1893 the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [adjective] gnedec900 gripplea1000 fastOE narrow-hearteda1200 narrow?c1225 straitc1290 chinchc1300 nithinga1325 scarcec1330 clama1340 hard1340 scantc1366 sparingc1386 niggardc1400 chinchy?1406 retentivea1450 niggardousa1492 niggish1519 unliberal1533 pinching1548 dry1552 nigh1555 niggardly1560 churlish1566 squeamish1566 niggardish1567 niggard-like1567 holding1569 spare1577 handfast1578 envious1580 close-handed1585 hard-handed1587 curmudgeonly1590 parsimonious?1591 costive1594 hidebound1598 penny-pinching1600 penurious1600 strait-handed1600 club-fisted1601 dry-fisted1604 fast-handed1605 fast-fingered1607 close-fisted1608 near1611 scanting1613 carkingc1620 illiberal1623 clutch-fisteda1634 hideboundeda1640 clutch-fista1643 clunch-fisted1644 unbounteous1645 hard-fisted1646 purse-bound1652 close1654 stingy1659 tenacious1676 scanty1692 sneaking1696 gripe-handed1698 narrow-souled1699 niggardling1704 snippy1727 unindulgent1742 shabby1766 neargoinga1774 cheesemongering1781 split-farthing1787 save-all1788 picked1790 iron-fisted1794 unhandsome1800 scaly1803 nearbegoing1805 tight1805 nippit1808 nipcheese1819 cumin-splitting1822 partan-handed1823 scrimping1823 scrumptious1823 scrimpy1825 meanly1827 skinny1833 pinchfisted1837 mean1840 tight-fisted1843 screwy1844 stinty1849 cheeseparing1857 skinflinty1886 mouly1904 mingy1911 cheapskate1912 picey1937 tight-assed1961 chintzy1964 tightwad1976 ?1591 H. Barrow Brief Discouerie False Church 149 The cheif of their auditory are more parcimonious & couetous. 1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 238 Being so percimonious and sparing in his expences. 1604 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. H Such a parsimonious sparer was Lewes II...that he wore..clothes of the coursest stuffe. 1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. iii. 10 Afterward he proved most parcimonious. 1697 T. D'Urfey Intrigues at Versailles ii. ii. 15 For my part, I had as live be in the Bastile, and order'd to feed upon Bread and Water, as be Confin'd to the sneaking allowance that a Parsimonious Husband shall bestow on me. 1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator IV. xx. 99 He grew extremely parsimonious, and at last quite covetous:—He retrenched the Number of his Servants, the Dishes on his Table. 1766 S. Scott Sir George Ellison II. iv. iii. 159 Her father,..being grown cautious with age, and parcimonious by nature,..feared some accident might deprive her of a blessing she was too slow in accepting. 1816 W. Scott Antiquary I. ii. 38 Mr Oldbuck was habitually parsimonious. 1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §3. 364 Her expenditure was parsimonious and even miserly. 1918 W. Cather My Ántonia iii. i. 294 He was, I discovered, parsimonious about small expenditures. 1940 Jrnl. Philos. 37 567 To allow such attribution would not be parsimonious, but indeed prodigal. 1991 Observer 7 July 20/8 I think they are all parsimonious, cheese-paring, gut-scrimping bean-counters. b. Of a person or thing: sparing in the giving or using of something abstract, as emotion, good fortune, words, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > retaining > sparingness or frugality > [adjective] > of immaterial things parsimonious1596 the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [adjective] > with immaterial things parsimonious1596 1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. M2^v Ceremonies of reuerence to the greatest States (as it were not the fashion of his cuntray) he was very parsimonious and niggardly of. 1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Fiditio, a kind of parcimonious feasting among the Lacademonians. 1607 J. Marston What you Will v. i He..cryes betwixt the teeth, as very parcimonious of breath, good boy, good Sinior, good boy. 1649 J. Quarles Kingly Bed of Miserie 3 His tongue was parsimonious. a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) IX. 212 These are those inexorable spiritual Cato's, those parsimonious dispensers of mercy. 1784 J. S. Murray Desultory Thoughts 252 Should those to whom nature had been parsimonious, be tortured by me. 1865 J. R. Seeley Ecce Homo (ed. 8) i. 4 They asked, is God so little parsimonious of his noblest gift. 1909 J. London in Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 20 Nov. 8/1 Two more rounds went by, in which King was parsimonious of effort and Sandel prodigal. 1992 Matrix Summer 5/2 It was a very cool, Northern European environment to grow up in, a bit parsimonious with praise, warmth and acceptance. 2003 Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Sask.) (Nexis) 15 Mar. a3 No one can have confidence in a police commission that is so parsimonious with the truth. 2. Of a thing: poor, meagre, scanty; spec. (of land) unproductive, barren. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > landscape > wild or uncultivated land > [adjective] > barren or desert barren1377 desert1393 bleaka1552 blunt1553 foodless1581 bleach1598 landless1606 desertuous1632 bald1642 bleaky1687 parsimonious1713 Saharan1849 deserty1891 Saharic1892 Saharian1897 desertic1936 scalded1936 the mind > possession > poverty > [adjective] > poor havelessOE unrichOE waedlec1000 armOE nakedOE helplessc1175 wantsomec1175 poora1200 barec1220 needfula1225 misease?c1225 unwealya1300 needyc1325 feeblec1330 poorful1372 mischievousc1390 miseasedc1390 indigentc1400 meanc1400 naughtyc1400 succourless1412 unwealthyc1412 behove1413 misterousa1425 misterfulc1480 miserablec1485 beggarly1545 starved1563 threadbare1577 penurious1590 fortuneless1596 wealthless1605 wantful1607 necessitous1611 inopulent1613 titheless1615 egene1631 starveling1638 necessitated1646 inopious1656 parsimonious1782 unopulent1782 lacking1805 bushed1819 obolary1820 ill-to-do1853 down at heel1856 po'1866 needsome1870 down-at-heeled1884 rocky1921 1713 Countess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 169 T'allay thy envy'd Gains, Unthought of, on the parcimonious Plains. a1731 E. Ward Compl. Acct. Remarkable Clubs & Societies (1756) 9 Th'upper Classis..only recompence their Wit, with some poor parsimonious Treat. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia I. i. ix. 121 Her dress, though parsimonious, was too neat for a beggar. 1832 S. Warren Passages from Diary of Late Physician I. i. 20 Our parsimonious fare hardly deserved the name of food. 1903 J. M. Falkner Nebuly Coat xxi. 327 The old-fashioned farmhouses were being let fall into disrepair, and then replaced by parsimonious eaveless buildings. 1943 E. Muir Narrow Place 20 The parsimonious ground That at its best will bear A few thin blades as fine as hair. 1985 R. Davies What's bred in Bone (1986) v. 294 On his palette he laid out his colours..in small, almost parsimonious dibbets. 2003 Sunday Tribune (Dublin) (Nexis) 9 Mar. 11 The parsimonious prize-money available in these parts. 3. Of a scientific hypothesis or explanation (esp. a phylogenetic tree): assuming the simplest state, process, evolutionary pathway, etc., that is consistent with the facts or observations; in accordance with the law or principle of parsimony. ΚΠ 1899 Amer. Naturalist 33 614 The parsimonious view is adopted by Dr. Edward Thorndike in a monograph. 1944 Jrnl. Compar. Psychol. 37 17 An explanation on a physiological level is not categorically more parsimonious and..there are problems which may be most simply and adequately solved by explanation at a psychological level. 1979 Science 7 Sept. 1037/1 The probability that..the most parsimonious tree will not be the evolutionary correct one will thus be higher. 2002 Amer. Midland Naturalist 147 287 The most parsimonious explanation for this phenomenon is that fire intensity and extent was reduced in grazed grasslands. 4. Of the functioning of an organism or natural system: exhibiting economy of action, effort, or process. Cf. parsimony n. 4. Now rare. ΚΠ 1931 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. 22 154 The animal achieves the same end with a little lick as with a big one, and the behaviour is parsimonious. 1967 S. Arieti Intrapsychic Self iii. 47 Loss of awareness in the phenomenon of habituation is a parsimonious device used constantly by the nervous system. 1976 Proc. Biennial Meeting Philos. of Sci. Assoc. 1976 2 10 What is the simplest, most parsimonious kind of gene action that could account for individual humans behaving socially in such fashions as to maximize their inclusive fitnesses? 1998 J. E. R. Staddon & B. S. Zanutto in C. D. L. Wynne & J. E. R. Staddon Models of Action vii. 242 This strategy of looking for the most parsimonious mechanism has helped us to understand the dynamics of feeding and foraging. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.?1591
随便看	woodhen woodhenge woodhens woodhewer woodheweres woodhewers woodhewing woodhire woodhole woodhoney woodhook woodhooped woodhorse witlessnesses witling witlings witloof witloofs witlost witly witmonger witne witness witness action witness chair