"widow's mite" meaning in English

See widow's mite in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈwɪdəʊz ˈmaɪt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈwɪdoʊz ˈmaɪt/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-widow's mite.ogg [Australia] Forms: widow's mites [plural]
Rhymes: -aɪt Etymology: From the Bible account of the poor widow’s donation of two mites (or leptons, small coins of low value) to the temple contribution box, which Jesus Christ praised as more than the gifts presented by wealthy people, for “[a]ll these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on”: Luke 21:1–4 (New International Version); see also Mark 12:38–44. Etymology templates: {{refn|From the collection of the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.|group=n|note=n1}}, {{l|en|mite|mites}} mites Head templates: {{en-noun}} widow's mite (plural widow's mites)
  1. (idiomatic) A very small gift or donation which, however, represents a great sacrifice on the part of the giver. Tags: idiomatic Categories (place): Greece Translations (very small gift or donation): lesken ropo (Finnish), denier de la veuve [masculine] (French), Scherflein [neuter] (German), szegény özvegy(asszony) két fillérje (Hungarian), cianóg na baintrí [feminine] (Irish), wdowi grosz [masculine] (Polish), ле́пта (lépta) [feminine] (Russian), цр̏кавица [Cyrillic, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian), cȑkavica [Roman, feminine] (Serbo-Croatian)
    Sense id: en-widow's_mite-en-noun-UGf1WSoq Disambiguation of Greece: 50 50 Disambiguation of 'very small gift or donation': 99 1
  2. (numismatics) The lepton coin. Categories (topical): Coins, Historical currencies Categories (place): Greece
    Sense id: en-widow's_mite-en-noun-2HDHG07h Disambiguation of Coins: 9 91 Disambiguation of Historical currencies: 12 88 Disambiguation of Greece: 50 50 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 43 57 Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, numismatics

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for widow's mite meaning in English (7.1kB)

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  "etymology_text": "From the Bible account of the poor widow’s donation of two mites (or leptons, small coins of low value) to the temple contribution box, which Jesus Christ praised as more than the gifts presented by wealthy people, for “[a]ll these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on”: Luke 21:1–4 (New International Version); see also Mark 12:38–44.",
  "forms": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "_dis": "50 50",
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          "ref": "1662, George Lawson, chapter XIII, in An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrewes. […], London: Printed by J. S. for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, verse 16, page 354",
          "text": "The matter of this Duty, is ſomething of theſe worldly Goods which God hath given us, are juſtly our own, and which we may ſpare, though never ſo little, if but the poor Widow's mite: for God requires our Charity according to our portion, we must give willingly and plentifully.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "text": "The widow had but only one, / A puny and decrepid son; / But day and night, / Though fretful oft, and weak, and small, / A loving child, he was her all— / The widow's mite.",
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          "text": "“A mite and the ‘widow’s mite,’ are some way apart, my dear,” said Aunt Dorothy; “your ‘widow’s mite,’ I suppose, might be the parsonage and the glebe, and those cows in your uncle’s park and meadow. Take care what you offer to the Lord. He sometimes takes us at our word. And there are plunderers abroad who take their own estimate of people’s mites, widows’ and others.”",
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          "text": "After the woman who gave me those ties left me that day, a cloud of guilt hung over me, and I couldn't shake it. It stayed with me through the night. I couldn't sleep. The woman was in her late sixties at the least, and she walked as if she carried the world on her shoulders. But she'd found a way to thank me. And I knew it was the widow's mite.",
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        "(idiomatic) A very small gift or donation which, however, represents a great sacrifice on the part of the giver."
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        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "very small gift or donation",
          "word": "lesken ropo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "fr",
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          "sense": "very small gift or donation",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "denier de la veuve"
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          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "de",
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          "sense": "very small gift or donation",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "Scherflein"
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          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "very small gift or donation",
          "word": "szegény özvegy(asszony) két fillérje"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "code": "ga",
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          "sense": "very small gift or donation",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "cianóg na baintrí"
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          "_dis1": "99 1",
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          "_dis1": "99 1",
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          "roman": "lépta",
          "sense": "very small gift or donation",
          "tags": [
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          ],
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        "(numismatics) The lepton coin."
      ],
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        "numismatics"
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      "ipa": "/ˈwɪdəʊz ˈmaɪt/",
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      "ipa": "/ˈwɪdoʊz ˈmaɪt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
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      "rhymes": "-aɪt"
    },
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      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/90/En-au-widow%27s_mite.ogg/En-au-widow%27s_mite.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/En-au-widow%27s_mite.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
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  "wikipedia": [
    "João Zeferino da Costa",
    "Museu Nacional de Belas Artes",
    "New International Version"
  ],
  "word": "widow's mite"
}
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  "etymology_text": "From the Bible account of the poor widow’s donation of two mites (or leptons, small coins of low value) to the temple contribution box, which Jesus Christ praised as more than the gifts presented by wealthy people, for “[a]ll these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on”: Luke 21:1–4 (New International Version); see also Mark 12:38–44.",
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      "expansion": "widow's mite (plural widow's mites)",
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          "ref": "1662, George Lawson, chapter XIII, in An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrewes. […], London: Printed by J. S. for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, verse 16, page 354",
          "text": "The matter of this Duty, is ſomething of theſe worldly Goods which God hath given us, are juſtly our own, and which we may ſpare, though never ſo little, if but the poor Widow's mite: for God requires our Charity according to our portion, we must give willingly and plentifully.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "text": "The widow had but only one, / A puny and decrepid son; / But day and night, / Though fretful oft, and weak, and small, / A loving child, he was her all— / The widow's mite.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "text": "“A mite and the ‘widow’s mite,’ are some way apart, my dear,” said Aunt Dorothy; “your ‘widow’s mite,’ I suppose, might be the parsonage and the glebe, and those cows in your uncle’s park and meadow. Take care what you offer to the Lord. He sometimes takes us at our word. And there are plunderers abroad who take their own estimate of people’s mites, widows’ and others.”",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "2008, Gwynne Forster, chapter 1, in What Matters Most (Arabesque Contemporary Romance), Washington, D.C.: Kimani Press",
          "text": "After the woman who gave me those ties left me that day, a cloud of guilt hung over me, and I couldn't shake it. It stayed with me through the night. I couldn't sleep. The woman was in her late sixties at the least, and she walked as if she carried the world on her shoulders. But she'd found a way to thank me. And I knew it was the widow's mite.",
          "type": "quotation"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
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      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "word": "lesken ropo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "denier de la veuve"
    },
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      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Scherflein"
    },
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      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "word": "szegény özvegy(asszony) két fillérje"
    },
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      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cianóg na baintrí"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "wdowi grosz"
    },
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      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "lépta",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ле́пта"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "Cyrillic",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "цр̏кавица"
    },
    {
      "code": "sh",
      "lang": "Serbo-Croatian",
      "sense": "very small gift or donation",
      "tags": [
        "Roman",
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cȑkavica"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "João Zeferino da Costa",
    "Museu Nacional de Belas Artes",
    "New International Version"
  ],
  "word": "widow's mite"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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