* It is often synonymous with indigent and with necessitous denoting extreme want. It is also applied to persons who are not entirely destitute of property, but who are not rich; as, a poor man or woman; poor people.

And for mine own poor part,
Look you, I'll go pray. Shak.

Poor, little, pretty, fluttering thing. Prior.

Poor law, a law providing for, or regulating, the relief or support of the poor. -- Poor man's treacle (Bot.), garlic; -- so called because it was thought to be an antidote to animal poison. [Eng] Dr. Prior. -- Poor man's weatherglass (Bot.), the red-flowered pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), which opens its blossoms only in fair weather. -- Poor rate, an assessment or tax, as in an English parish, for the relief or support of the poor. -- Poor soldier (Zoöl.), the friar bird. -- The poor, those who are destitute of property; the indigent; the needy. In a legal sense, those who depend on charity or maintenance by the public. "I have observed the more public provisions are made for the poor, the less they provide for themselves." Franklin.