povertyn.[OE. poverte, OF. povert, F. pauvret, fr. L. paupertas, fr. pauper poor. See Poor.]1. The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need.(Keble.)The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty. (Prov. xxiii. 21.)2. Any deficiency of elements or resources that are needed or desired, or that constitute richness; as, poverty of soil; poverty of the blood; poverty of ideas.()Poverty grass (Bot.), a name given to several slender grasses (as Aristida dichotoma, and Danthonia spicata) which often spring up on old and worn-out fields.()()n. (Zol.) A small British lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeoides, or Coregonus ferus); -- called also gwyniad and lake herring.()