Pen"u*ry (?), n. [L. penuria; cf.
Gr. ? hunger, ? poverty, need, ? one who works for his daily
bread, a poor man, ? to work for one's daily bread, to be poor: cf.
F. pénurie.] 1. Absence of
resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme poverty;
destitution. "A penury of military forces."
Bacon.
They were exposed to hardship and
penury.
Sprat.
It arises in neither from penury of
thought.
Landor.
2. Penuriousness; miserliness. [Obs.]
Jer. Taylor.