widow's mite

noun

1. a small contribution given cheerfully by one who can ill afford it. Mark 12:41–44.

widow's mite

noun

1. a small contribution given by a person who has very little

Word History and Origins

Origin of widow's mite¹

First recorded in 1585–95

Word History and Origins

Origin of widow's mite¹

allusion to Mark 12:43

Example Sentences

She reminds herself of what she knows as “the widow’s mite” and of Debbie, the woman who gave all that she could.

From Washington Times

One group called themselves the Ladies Mite Society, after the Bible story of the widow’s mite.

From Washington Times

But I am simply presenting this book as an humble race defender, in connection with the body of race defenders, and if my theory in this book is accepted as one of the little fingers of this splendid body, I will feel that I have accomplished some results and thus portrayed the story of “The Widow’s Mite”—she gave all she had, and I contribute likewise.

From Project Gutenberg

They were supplied with 30,000 francs to defray the cost of their establishment, and to this modest sum the crisis which soon overtook the parent establishment allowed them to add but little; but this mite, bestowed by the Church of France in the last days of her wealth, was destined to become, like the widow's mite, the price of innumerable blessings.

From Project Gutenberg

Ozanam names a chain of authors as belonging to this school of "Boethius, who on the eve of martyrdom wrote the consolations of that sorrow which is concealed under the illusions of the world; Isidore, Bede, Rabanus, Anselm, Bernard, Peter Damian, Peter the Lombard, who rejoiced 'to cast his sentences like the widow's mite into the treasury of the temple, Hugo, and Richard of St. Victor, Peter the Spaniard, Albert, St. Bonaventure, and St. Thomas."

From Project Gutenberg