So I went to keep house with him at the Why Not? and my aunt sent down my bag of clothes, and would have made over to Elzevir the pittance that my father left for my keep, but he said it was not needful, and he would have none of it.
Wikipedia foundation.
pittance — pit‧tance [ˈpɪtns] noun [singular] a very small or unfairly small amount of money: • She gets paid a pittance. * * * pittance UK US /ˈpɪtəns/ noun [S] DISAPPROVING ► a very small amount of money, especially money received as income: earn … Financial and business terms
Pittance — Pit tance (p[i^]t tans), n. [OE. pitance, pitaunce, F. pitance; cf. It. pietanza, LL. pitancia, pittantia, pictantia; perh. fr. L. pietas pity, piety, or perhaps akin to E. petty. Cf. {Petty}, and {Pity}.] 1. An allowance of food bestowed in… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Pittance — (through French pitance and from Latin pietas, loving kindness) is a gift to the members of a religious house for masses, consisting usually of an extra allowance of food or wine on occasions such as the anniversary of the donor s death festivals … Wikipedia
pittance — index paucity, ration Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
pittance — early 13c., pious donation to a religious house or order to provide extra food, from O.Fr. pitance portion of food allowed a monk or poor person by a pious bequest, lit. pity, from pitié (see PITY (Cf. pity)). Meaning small amount, portion first… … Etymology dictionary
pittance — *ration, allowance, dole … New Dictionary of Synonyms
pittance — [n] small amount allowance, bit, chicken feed*, dribble*, drop*, drop in the bucket*, inadequacy, insufficiency, mite, modicum, peanuts*, pension, portion, ration, scrap*, slave wages*, smidgen, trace, trifle; concepts 344,787 Ant. generosity,… … New thesaurus
pittance — ► NOUN ▪ a very small or inadequate amount of money. ORIGIN originally denoting a small bequest to a religious establishment to provide extra food and wine for a festival: from Old French pitance, from Latin pietas pity … English terms dictionary
pittance — [pit′ ns] n. [ME pitaunce < OFr pitance, portion of food allowed a monk < ML pietantia < LL(Ec) pietas: see PIETY] 1. a small or barely sufficient allowance of money 2. any small amount or share … English World dictionary
pittance — pit|tance [ˈpıtəns] n [singular] [Date: 1200 1300; : Old French; Origin: pitance piety, pity , from Latin pietas; PITY1] a very small amount of money, especially wages, that is less than someone needs or deserves earn/be paid a pittance ▪ The… … Dictionary of contemporary English
pittance — n. (formal) a mere, small pittance * * * [ pɪt(ə)ns] small pittance (formal) a mere … Combinatory dictionary
