Definition of "exiguity"

The exiguity and ſmallneſſe of ſome ſeeds extending to large productions is one of the magnalities of nature, ſomewhat illuſtrating the work of the Creation, and vaſt production from nothing.

1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], page 136

Of the nature of Mr. Knott himself Watt remained in particular ignorance. Of the many excellent reasons for this, two seemed to Watt to merit mention: on the one hand the exiguity of the material propounded to his senses, and on the other the decay of these.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959

We have yet to treat the exiguity of the accounting framework and this exiguity draws away the interest to any empirical utilisation.

1986, Manuel J. Vilares, “Macroeconomic Models with Quantity Rationing”, in Structural Change in Macroeconomic Models: Theory and Estimation (Advanced Studies in Theoretical and Applied Econometrics; 6), Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, section 1.4.3 (The Exiguity of the Accounting Framework), page 59

However, despite its exiguity, the vicarage did maintain an independent existence as a benefice, and the College continued to make presentations to the bishop of Worcester.

1991, Robert N. Swanson, “Standard of Livings: Parochial Revenues in Pre-Reformation England”, in Christopher Harper-Bill, editor, Religious Belief and Ecclesiastical Careers in Late Medieval England: Proceedings of the Conference Held at Strawberry Hill, Easter 1989 (Studies in the History of Medieval Religion; 3), Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, Boydell & Brewer, page 176

Some undertakings, however, required so much manpower that farmers had to recruit their neighbors. […] These collaborations integrated the neighborhood and established it as more than a mere locality where farmers happened to live. They were one means by which to rise above exiguities and weather the turbulences in a precarious world.

2002, Martin Bruegel, “Exchange and the Creation of the Neighborhood in the Late Eighteenth Century”, in Farm, Shop, Landing: The Rise of a Market Society in the Hudson Valley, 1780–1860, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, page 21