Adjective

(en adjective)

Withholding for the sake of meanness; stingy, miserly.

* Bishop Hall

Where the owner of the house will be bountiful, it is not for the steward to be niggardly .

* 1919 ,

They were not niggardly , these tramps, and he who had money did not hesitate to share it among the rest.

* 1958 , , The Affluent Society (1998 edition), ISBN 9780395925003, p. 186:

This manifests itself in an implacable tendency to provide an opulent supply of some things and a niggardly yield of others.

Adjective

(er)

Not large or big; insignificant; few in numbers or size.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}

(figuratively) Young, as a child.

(writing, incomparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written letters.

Envincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.

* Carlyle

A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.

Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.

a small space of time