Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Miser |
MiserNoun1. A stingy hoarder of money and possessions (often living miserably). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "miser" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Miser \Mi"ser\, noun. [Latin expression miser wretched, miserable; compare Greek for hate,, to hate: compare to Italian expression Spanish misero wretched, avaricious.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of a miser, foretells you will be unfortunate in finding true happiness owing to selfishness, and love will disappoint you sorely. For a woman to dream that she is befriended by a miser, foretells she will gain love and wealth by her intelligence and tactful conduct. To dream that you are miserly, denotes that you will be obnoxious to others by your conceited bearing. To dream that any of your friends are misers, foretells that you will be distressed by the importunities of others. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Mining | A tubular well-boring bit, having a valve at the bottom, and a screw forforcing the earth upward. Also spelled mizer. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
miser | English | Microwave space relay | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Parsimony | Miser, churl, screw, skinflint, crib, codger, muckworm, scrimp, lickpenny, hunks, curmudgeon, Harpagon, harpy, extortioner, Jew, usurer; Hessian; pinch fist, pinch penny. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Miser |
| English words defined with "miser": Glad on 't ♦ Hunks ♦ Muckerer, Muckworm ♦ Pickpenny, Pinchfist ♦ Scrapepenny, Snudge. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "miser": Bartoldo, Bianca ♦ Fare Well ♦ Misers, MUCKWORM ♦ Nip-cheese ♦ Penny-father ♦ SAVE-ALL. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "miser": misery. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Miser" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (bet), Latin (distressing, miser, miserable, poor, the wretched, unfortunate, unhappy, wretched). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Miser of Monterey (1915) Miser Murray's Wedding Present (1914) The Miser (1913) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Death and the miser. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
George Herbert | Never was a miser a brave soul. |
Jean De La Bruyere | The spendthrift robs his heirs the miser robs himself. |
Josh Billings | The miser and the glutton are two facetious buzzards: one hides his store, and the other stores his hide. |
Karl Marx | While the miser is merely a capitalist gone mad, the capitalist is a rational miser. |
Lucilius | After spending some money in his sleep, Hermon the miser was so hopping mad he hanged himself. |
Publilius Syrus | The miser is as much in want of what he has as of what he has not. |
William Shakespeare | A miser grows rich by seeming poor. An extravagant man grows poor by seeming rich. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It is the advice of a miser to beggars |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Miser" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 92.68% of the time. "Miser" is used about 41 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 92.68% | 38 | 55,818 |
| Noun (proper) | 7.32% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 41 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "miser" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Miser | Last name | 1,000 | 17,231 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "miser": Eco-no-miser. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
the miser | 54 |
heat miser | 52 |
miser on the mountain | 10 |
miser wood | 7 |
miser snow | 6 |
beer miser | 4 |
miser vending | 4 |
fuel miser | 3 |
moliere the miser | 3 |
heat miser song | 3 |
heat miser mr | 3 |
pete miser | 3 |
energy miser | 2 |
the miser by moliere | 2 |
watt miser | 2 |
marner miser | 2 |
miser purse | 2 |
miser summary | 2 |
cold miser | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "miser"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | makut (Edacious, esurient, gluttonous, grasping, greedy, mingy, open mouthed, pecker, piggish, rapacious, voracious), neqez (covetous, stingy), kurnac (churl, churlish, miserly, penny-pinching, pinchpenny, tightwad), koprrac (avaricious, cheese paring, churl, clam, close-fisted, curmudgeon, curmudgeonly, grasping, griping, mean, mingy, money grubber, money-grubbing, muckworm, narrow, near, rapacious, saving, screwy, scrimp, sharpener, skin, skinflint, stingy, tight-fisted, tightwad, turn-penny). (various references) | |
Arabic | المقبوض اليد, الحريص على المال, الشحيح اليد, البخيل (churl, screw, skinflint, tightwad). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | скъпернически (avaricious, covetous, mean, mingy, miserly, penurious, shabby, stingy), скъперник (accumulator, churl, curmudgeon, hunks, muckworm, save-all, scrape-penny, screw). (various references) | |
Chinese | 財迷 (money grubber). (various references) | |
Czech | lakomec (hunks, scraper, skinflint), škrob (skinflint, starch). (various references) | |
Dutch | vrek (skinflint), schraper (skinflint), gierigaard (skinflint), duitendief (skinflint). (various references) | |
Esperanto | avarulo (skinflint). (various references) | |
Farsi | ادم خسیس (Saveall). (various references) | |
Finnish | saituri (screw). (various references) | |
French | radin (mingy, miserly), pingre (mingy, miserly), ladre (miserly), chiche (miserly), avare (miserly). (various references) | |
Frisian | nepert (skinflint), krintekakker (skinflint), izegryn (skinflint), gjirrigert (skinflint), frek (skinflint), earn (eagle, skinflint). (various references) | |
German | Geizhals (cheapskate, curmudgeon, meanie, scrooge, shylock, skinflint, tightwad). (various references) | |
Greek | φιλάργυροσ (avaricious, illiberal, miserly, muckworm, parsimonious, penurious, skinflint, sordid, stingy, ungenerous), φιλάργυρος (avaricious, miserly). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מק"ח (auger, bit, borer, drill), קמצן (mean, mingy, miserly, skinflint, stingy), צר עין (covetous, envious, mean, mingy). (various references) | |
Hungarian | fösvény (avaricious, churlish, curmudgeon, hunks, miserly, money grubber, near, parsimonious, pelting, penurious, shabby, skinflint, stingy, tightwad). (various references) | |
Indonesian | orang pelit. (various references) | |
Italian | tirchio (churl, churlish, hard-fisted, illiberal, mean, mingy, miserly, near, stingy, tightfisted), taccagno (hunks, mean, penny-pinching, stingy), spilorcio (mean, stingy), avaro (avaricious, close, grasping, greedy, hard-fisted, mean, mingy, miserly, near, penurious, skinflint, stingy, tight, tightfisted, tightwad). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 守銭奴 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しゅせ"ど, にぎりや (grasping fellow), いちも"おしみ (miserliness, stinginess), "うつくばり (pigheaded person, stubbornness), り"しょくか, り"しょく (miserliness, pinching pennies, skinflint, stinginess, tightwad), けち"ぼう, けち (miserliness, pinching pennies, skinflint, stinginess, tightwad). (various references) | |
Manx | sondagh (avaricious, close-fisted, covetous, greedy, selfish, sordid), prughag (hoarder), peajeog (pinch-penny, scraper), gortan, gortagh (beggarly, chary, cheese-paring, close-fisted, frugal, grudging, hurt, hurtful, illiberal, injurious, meagre, miserly, parsimonious, penurious, pinching, scant, scanty, skimpy, stingy). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | isermay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | sovina (mingy, scraper, scrimpy, skimpy, skinflint, stingy), pão-duro (iron-fisted, mingy, money grubber), avaro (avaricious, covetous, mean, miserly, narrow-fisted, stingy, tight, tight-fisted), avarento (avaricious, close-fisted, curmudgeonly, hunks, iron-fisted, mean, miserly, parsimonious, penurious, scraper, scrimpy, skimpy, skinflint, stingy, tight, tight-fisted), aparelho para perfurar poços. (various references) | |
Romanian | zgârcit (accumulator, avaricious, cheese paring, churlish, clenched, close, close-fisted, close-handed, costive, covetous, curmudgeon, grasping, hunks, illiberal, iron-fisted, mean, miserly, money grubber, muckworm, parsimonious, penny father, penny-wise, penurious, screw, skimpy, skin, skinflint, sparing, stingy, tight), nenorocit (abject, baleful, disastrous, forlorn, grievous, grub, hapless, lame duck, mean, measly, miserable, pilgarlic, rascal, rotten, sad, scullion, unfortunate, unhappy, wretch, wretched), avar (accumulative, avaricious, churl, churlish, close, close-fisted, grasping, miserly, money grubber, muckworm, penurious, screw, stingy). (various references) | |
Russian | скупец (clam, close liver, curmudgeon, nickel nurser, scrimper, skinflint, tightwad). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | tvrdica (chuff, churl, hoarder, moneybag, moneygrubber, scrooge, skinflint, tightwad), cicija (moneybags, scrooge, skinflint), bušilica (borer, drill, drilling machine, trepan), škrtica, škrt (avaricious, chary, close-fisted, grudging, hardfisted, mean, miserly, parsimonious, penurious, scanty, scotch, scrimp, scrimpy, skimpy, stingy, tight, tightfisted, tight-fisted). (various references) | |
Spanish | avaro (avaricious, close-fisted, grasper, grasping, grudging, miserly, money grubber, money-grubbing, parsimonious, penurious, scrimpy, tight-fisted, tightwad). (various references) | |
Swedish | snålvarg, gnidare (curmudgeon, skinflint), girigbuk (screw, Scrooge). (various references) | |
Turkish | pinti (cheeseparing, churlish, close-fisted, mangy, parsimonious, screw, skinflint, stingy, tightwad, ungenerous), paragöz (acquisitive, avaricious, mercenary, money grubber, stingy), cimri (chary, cheapskate, cheeseparing, churlish, close, close-fisted, costive, hard-fisted, illiberal, light purse, long purse, mangy, mean, measly, mingy, near, parsimonious, penny pincher, penurious, piker, pinchpenny, screw, scrimp, scrimpy, Scrooge, shabby, shylock, skimp, skimpy, skin, skinflint, skinny, sordid, spare, stingy, tight, tight purse, tight-fisted, tightwad, ungenerous). (various references) | |
Turkmen | gysganз (greedy, miserly). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | скупій (tightwad), скнара (chuff, churl, clam, codger, curmudgeon, nip-cheese, piker, save-all, scraper, skinflint). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | người keo kiệt (skinflint), người bủn xỉn (churl, hunks). (various references) | |
Welsh | cybydd, codog (baggy, rich man), arbedwr (savior), anhael (miserly). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | avare, avari, avaris, avaro, avarus, miser. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Revelation Chapter 3, Verse 17 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Oti legeiV oti plousioV eimi kai peplouthka kai oudenoV creian ecw kai ouk oidaV oti su ei o talaipwroV kai eleeinoV kai ptwcoV kai tufloV kai gumnoV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Quia dicis quod dives sum et locupletatus et nullius egeo et nescis quia tu es miser et miserabilis et pauper et caecus et nudus |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | For thou seist, That Y am riche, and ful of goodis, and Y haue nede of no thing; and thou wost not, that thou art a wretche, and wretcheful, `and pore, and blynde, and nakid. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | Because thou sayst thou arte riche and incresyd wt goodes and haste nede of nothynge and knowest not howe thou arte wretched and miserable poore blinde and nakyd. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | For you say, I have wealth, and have got together goods and land, and have need of nothing; and you are not conscious of your sad and unhappy condition, that you are poor and blind and without clothing. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Revelation Chapter 3, Verse 17 |
| Cebuano | Kay ikaw magakanayon, Ako dato, ako mauswagon, ug walay nakulang kanako; sa walay pagpanghibalo nga ikaw alaut, makalolooy, kabus, buta ug hubo. |
| Croatian | Govoriš: 'Bogat sam, obogatih se, ništa mi ne treba!' A ne znaš da si nevolja i bijeda, i ubog, i slijep, i gol. |
| Danish | fordi du siger: Jeg er rig og har vundet Rigdom og fattes intet; og du ved ikke, at du er den elendige og jammerlige og fattige og blinde og nøgne. |
| Dutch | Want gij zegt: Ik ben rijk, en verrijkt geworden, en heb geens dings gebrek; en gij weet niet, dat gij zijt ellendig, en jammerlijk, en arm, en blind, en naakt. |
| Finnish | Sillä sinä sanot: Minä olen rikas, minä olen rikastunut enkä mitään tarvitse; etkä tiedä, että juuri sinä olet viheliäinen ja kurja ja köyhä ja sokea ja alaston. |
| French | Parce que tu dis: Je suis riche, je me suis enrichi, et je n`ai besoin de rien, et parce que tu ne sais pas que tu es malheureux, misérable, pauvre, aveugle et nu, |
| German | Du sprichst: Ich bin reich und habe gar satt und bedarf nichts! und weißt nicht, daß du bist elend und jämmerlich, arm, blind und bloß. |
| Hungarian | Mivel ezt mondod: Gazdag vagyok, és meggazdagodtam és semmire nincs szükségem; és nem tudod, hogy te vagy a nyomorult és a nyavalyás és szegény és vak és mezítelen: |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kalian berkata, 'Kami kaya dan serba cukup; kami tidak kekurangan apa-apa.' Tetapi kalian tidak tahu betapa melarat dan betapa menyedihkan keadaanmu! Kalian miskin, telanjang, dan buta. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Dengan sebab katamu: Aku kaya dan sudahlah aku beroleh kekayaan dan satu pun tiada kekurangan padaku, padahal tiada engkau mengetahui bahwa engkaulah orang malang, dan yang tiada terkasihan, dan miskin, dan buta, dan bertelanjang, |
| Italian | Tu dici: «Sono ricco, mi sono arricchito; non ho bisogno di nulla», ma non sai di essere un infelice, un miserabile, un povero, cieco e nudo. |
| Latvian | Jo tu saki: es esmu bagâts, pârpilnîgi bagâts un man nekâ netrûkst; bet tu nezini, ka tu esi nelaimîgs un noþçlojams, un nabags, un akls, un kails. |
| Maori | No te mea e ki ana koe, Kua whai taonga ahau, kua tini aku rawa, kahore hoki tetahi mea e matea ana e ahau; kahore hoki e matau he waikorohuhu noa iho koe, he he noa iho, he rawakore, he matapo, he mea kakahukore: |
| Norwegian | Fordi du sier: Jeg er rik og har overflod og fattes intet, og du vet ikke at du er ussel og ynkelig og fattig og blind og naken, |
| Portuguese | Porquanto dizes: Rico sou, e estou enriquecido, e de nada tenho falta; e não sabes que és um coitado, e miserável, e pobre, e cego, e nu; |
| Rumanian | Pentrucq zici: ,,Sknt bogat, m`am kmbogqyit, wi nu duc lipsq de nimic``, wi nu wtii cq ewti ticqlos, nenorocit, sqrac, orb wi gol, |
| Shuar | Iis, "Kuítrinniuitjai, ti irumpraitjai, warinkisha atsumatsjai" tame. Túrasha Ashí yajauch, Wáitnenmai, Kuítrincha, kusuru, tura Misú iyajme. |
| Spanish | Ya que tú dices: 'Soy rico; me he enriquecido y no tengo ninguna necesidad', y no sabes que tú eres desgraciado, miserable, pobre, ciego y desnudo, |
| Swahili | Wewe unajisema, `Mimi ni tajiri; ninajitosheleza, sina haja ya kitu chochote.` Kumbe, hujui kwamba wewe ni mnyonge, unahitaji kuhurumiwa, maskini, kipofu tena uko uchi! |
| Swedish | Du säger ju: 'Jag är rik, ja, jag har vunnit rikedomar och behöver intet'; och du vet icke att du just är eländig och ömkansvärd och fattig och blind och naken. |
| Uma | Ni'uli' -koina mo'ua' -koi, hono' moto katuwua' -ni, uma-pi ria kakuraa' -ni. Ntaa' we'i, uma-di ni'incai kampe'ahii' -nie. Metunai lia-koi, kabu-koi, wero-koi, molawa-koi hi katuwu' kao' -ni. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "miser": miserable, miserableness, miserablenesses, miserables, miserably, miserere, misereres, misericord, misericorde, misericordes, misericords, miseries, miserliness, miserlinesses, miserly, misers, misery. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "miser": atomiser, compromiser, promiser, surmiser. (additional references) | |
Words containing "miser": atomisers, commiserate, commiserated, commiserates, commiserating, commiseratingly, commiseration, commiserations, commiserative, compromisers, promisers, surmisers. (additional references) | |
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"Miser" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Eiser, giser, Imcera, Isar, iser, maiziere, masur, mawser, Mazer, mcse, meezer, Meise, Meisner, meisr, Meizer, messer, Meysner, Mezera, miaer, micer, mier, mies, miese, miger, miker, Milspec, Minsker, mirer, misa, misak, misce, misef, miseg, misel, Misera, misere, miseri, miset, misex, Misia, misie, Misir, miskr, misme, Misner, miso, misor, misr, misrel, misse, missen, misseur, Misu, misuer, miza, mizer, Mizler, Moiseev, Moiser, Moizer, momser, moser, mosner, mosre, mosser, moyser, msar, msre, muise, Musar, musser, Muyser, myer, myse, mysen, myser, Mysov, Nizar, nizer. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "miser" (pronounced mī"zer) |
| 3 | -ī" z er | adviser, advisor, divisor, geyser, incisor, kaiser, riser, sizer, wiser. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: emirs, mires, rimes. | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-m-r-s" | |
-1 letter: emir, ires, mire, mirs, mise, reis, rems, rime, rims, rise, semi, sire. | |
-2 letters: ems, ers, ire, ism, mir, mis, rei, rem, res, rim, sei, ser, sim, sir, sri. | |
-3 letters: em, er, es, is, me, mi, re, si. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-i-m-r-s" | |
+1 letter: aimers, armies, crimes, dermis, dimers, fermis, grimes, isomer, kermis, merits, milers, mimers, miners, misers, misery, mister, miters, mitres, mixers, moires, primes, ramies, remise, remiss, remits, rimers, rimose, simmer, simper, smiler, smiter, spirem, timers, verism, vermis. | |
+2 letters: admires, ambries, begrims, bemires, berimes, biremes, ceriums, chimers, dimmers, emeries, emigres, empires, emprise, epimers, erbiums, ermines, erotism, filmers, firmers, firmest, gisarme, hermits, heroism, imagers, imarets, imbrues, immerse, immures, imposer, impresa, imprese, impress, imprest, irksome, isomers, kirmess, limbers, limmers, limners, limpers, maestri, mailers, maimers, marines, marries, massier, megrims, memoirs, menhirs, mercies, merinos, merises, merisis, merlins, meshier, messier, metiers, metrics, metrist, milkers, millers, milreis, milters, mincers, minders, minster, minters, mirages, mirexes, miriest, mirkest, misaver, misdoer, misdrew, miserly, misfire, misgrew, mishear, misrate, misread, misrely, misrule, misterm, misters, mistier, misuser, mithers, moilers, moister, mortise, mossier, mousier, mureins, murices, murines, murries, mushier, muskier, mussier, mustier, ogreism, permits, pismire, prelims, premies, premise, premiss, primers, primsie, promise, realism, reemits, refilms, regimes, remails, remains, remiges, reminds, remints, remised, remises, remixes, retimes, retrims, rimiest, rimless, rimmers, rimples, roomies, rummies, seamier, sedarim, semidry, seminar, semipro, semiraw, seriema, shimmer, sidearm, simmers, simpers, simpler, skimmer, slimier, slimmer, smartie, smilers, smirked, smirker, smiters, smokier, spermic, spireme, spirems, spumier, surmise, swimmer, timbers, timbres, trimers, triseme, trisome, umpires, uremias, verismo, verisms. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Bible Trace 15. Abbreviations 16. Acronyms | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
