poor (redirected from poorness)

be as poor as church mice (old-fashioned)

to be very poor. When we first got married, we were as poor as church mice.

See also: church, mice

dirt-poor (informal)

extremely poor. Most of the population in this undeveloped area were dirt-poor and jobless.

make a bad/poor fist of something/doing something (British & Australian, old-fashioned)

make a good fist of something/doing something - to do something well. Our lawyer made a poor fist of advising us.

See also: bad, fist

a poor man's someone/something

someone or something that is similar to a well-known person or thing but is not as good. He was only ever a mediocre singer - they used to call him 'the poor man's Frank Sinatra'. 'So what did you think of the film?' 'It was just a poor man's 'Pulp Fiction'.'

a poor relation

someone or something that is believed to be less important than another similar person or thing. Video, once seen as the poor relation of cinema, is now a major source of revenue for film companies.

See also: relation