Meanings
comparative more niggardlily · superlative most niggardlily
- rareIn a niggardly manner.
Snea´kingly, pitifully, poorly, niggardlily.
1736, N[athan] Bailey, Dictionarium Britannicum: Or a More Compleat Universal Etymological English dictionary than Any Extant, the second edition, London: […] T. Cox3 more examples
It is the certainty of this that reconciles the Doctrinaires, and even M. Persil, to the amnesty. They will grant it, rather than have it forced upon them by M. Dupin. But they will grant it as late as possible, and as niggardlily as possible, unless the more generous sentiment of Marshal Gerard prevail.
1834 October 11, The Morning Chronicle, number 20,319, LondonJapan, niggardlily endowed by nature in natural resources looks to China for supply of necessary industrial materials, selling her manufactures to China.[…]the poorer element of whom, as things stand, are only niggardlily provided for in a financial sense, the Railway Company has been tempted to offer the long-missed facility[?] to such Chinese as may be in want thereof.
1927, The Manchuria Daily News, pages 1 and 5Let us not make them help us niggardlily with clenched teeth, in a mood that might make them gloat over our reverses and our losses, as much as the enemy and his friends.
1963 April, “Indian Periodicals”, in Kedar Nath Chatterji, editor, The Modern Review, volume CXIII, number 4 (whole 676), Calcutta, page 332
Origin
Cite this entry
niggardlily. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/niggardlily
“niggardlily.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/niggardlily. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “niggardlily,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/niggardlily.
Source: niggardlily on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.