1. Economical in the use or appropriation of resources; not wasteful or lavish; wise in the expenditure
or application of force, materials, time, etc.; characterized by frugality; sparing; economical; saving; as, a
frugal housekeeper; frugal of time.
I oft admire
How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit
Such disproportions.
Milton. 2. Obtained by, or appropriate to, economy; as, a frugal fortune. "Frugal fare." Dryden.
Frugality
(Fru*gal"i*ty) n.; pl. Frugalities [L. frugalitas: cf. F. frugalité.]
1. The quality of being frugal; prudent economy; that careful management of anything valuable which
expends nothing unnecessarily, and applies what is used to a profitable purpose; thrift; —- opposed to
extravagance.
Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have
limits.
Burke. 2. A sparing use; sparingness; as, frugality of praise.
Syn. — Economy; parsimony. See Economy.
Frugally
(Fru"gal*ly) adv. Thriftily; prudently.
Frugalness
(Fru"gal*ness), n. Quality of being frugal; frugality.
Frugiferous
(Fru*gif"er*ous) a. [L. frugifer; frux, frugis, fruit + ferre to bear: cf. F. frugifere.] Producing
fruit; fruitful; fructiferous. Dr. H. More.
Frugivora
(||Fru*giv"o*ra) n. pl. [NL. See Frugivorous.] (Zoöl.) The fruit bate; a group of the Cheiroptera,
comprising the bats which live on fruits. See Eruit bat, under Fruit.
Frugivorous
(Fru*giv"o*rous) a. [L. frux, frugis, fruit + vorare to devour.: cf. F. frugivore.] Feeding
on fruit, as birds and other animals. Pennant.
Fruit
(Fruit) n. [OE. fruit, frut, F. fruit, from L. fructus enjoyment, product, fruit, from frui, p. p. fructus,
to enjoy; akin to E. brook, v. t. See Brook, v. t., and cf. Fructify, Frugal.]
1. Whatever is produced for the nourishment or enjoyment of man or animals by the processes of vegetable
growth, as corn, grass, cotton, flax, etc.; — commonly used in the plural.
Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the
fruits thereof.
Ex. xxiii. 10. 2. (Hort.) The pulpy, edible seed vessels of certain plants, especially those grown on branches above
ground, as apples, oranges, grapes, melons, berries, etc. See 3.
3. (Bot.) The ripened ovary of a flowering plant, with its contents and whatever parts are consolidated
with it.
Fruits are classified as fleshy, drupaceous, and dry. Fleshy fruits include berries, gourds, and melons,
orangelike fruits and pomes; drupaceous fruits are stony within and fleshy without, as peaches, plums,
and cherries; and dry fruits are further divided into achenes, follicles, legumes, capsules, nuts, and
several other kinds.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Bot.) The spore cases or conceptacles of flowerless plants, as of ferns, mosses, algae, etc., with
the spores contained in them.
