Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POV'ER-TY, n. [Norm. pouerti; Fr. pauvreté; It. povertà; Sp. and Port. pobreza; L. paupertas. See Poor.]

1. Destitution of property; indigence; want of convenient means of subsistence. The consequence of poverty is dependence. The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty. – Prov. xxiii.
2. Barrenness of sentiment or ornament; defect; as, the poverty of a composition.
3. Want; defect of words; as, the poverty of language.