Miserliness (redirected from miserly)

Miserliness

See also Stinginess.

Collyer brothers

(Homer, 1882–1947) (Langely, 1886–1947) wealthy brothers who lived barren and secluded lives in junk-laden Harlem mansion. [Am. Hist.: Facts (1947) 116; Am. Lit.: My Brother’s Keeper.]

Grandet, Monsieur

his loathsome miserliness and greed ruin the lives of his family. [Fr. Lit.: Eugenie Grandet in Magill I, 258]

Green, Hetty

(1834–1916) “Witch of Wall Street”; financial wizard whose miserliness became legendary. [Am. Hist.: The Day They Shook the Plum Tree]

Harpagon

his hoard of money means more to him than do his children. [Fr. Drama: Moliere The Miser]

Marner, Silas

cares only to amass gold; robbed of it, he finds new meaning in love for abandoned child. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 930]

McTeague, Trina

loves to count her hoard of coins, is niggardly with her husband. [Am. Lit.: McTeague, Magill I, 537; Am. Cinema: Greed, Halliwell, 176]

Plyushkin

incredibly miserly landowner serves Tchitchikov a year-old Easter cake. [Russ. Lit.: Gogol Dead Souls]

Scrooge

“grasping old sinner” who learns that miserliness leads only to loneliness and pain. [Br. Lit.: “A Christmas Carol” in Benét, 196]