Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pittance

Pit′tance (pĭt′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 charity; a mess of victuals; hence, a small charity gift; a dole. "A good pitaunce." Chaucer.

One half only of this pittance was ever given him in money. Macaulay.

2. A meager portion, quantity, or allowance; an inconsiderable salary or compensation. "The small pittance of learning they received." Swift.

The inconsiderable pittance of faithful professors. Fuller.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.