charier

Adjective

chary (comparative charier, superlative chariest)

1. Careful, cautious, shy, wary.
   • The Charieſt maide is prodigall enough, / If ſhe vnmaske hir beautie to the Moone.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell...

   Synonyms:

   alert, attentive, careful, cautelous, cautious, canny, circumspect, conservative, deliberate, discreet

   Antonyms:

   unchary, careless, cursory, derelict, heedless, irregardless, irrespective, lash, lax, incautious

2. Excessively particular or fussy about details; fastidious.
   • True, the wreath might have been improved with a little more care; [...] Though, after all, we are, perhaps, too chary; for in nature every leaf is not ironed out to a form, nor propped up with a wiry precision; but blown and ruffled by the refreshing breezes, and looking as easy, and careless, and...1839 March 9, [Edgar Allan Poe], “A Wreath of Wild Flowers from New England. By Frances Sargent Osgood. 12mo. pp. 364. London, 1839. Churton. [book review]”, in The Literary Gazette; and Journal of...

   Antonyms:

   unchary

3. Not disposed to give freely; not lavish; frugal, sparing.
   • Oh! look not thus o'erjoy'd, for if I thought / We e'er could meet again this side the grave, / Trust me, I had been charier of my tenderness.1820, H[enry] H[art] Milman, “Fountain of Siloe—Night—An Approaching Storm”, in The Fall of Jerusalem: A Dramatic Poem, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 97

   Antonyms:

   unchary

4. (obsolete) Cared for, regarded as precious; cherished.
   • The bounty so much delighted mine host, that he ran to fill the stirrup-cup (for which no charge was ever made) from a butt yet charier than that which he had pierced for the former stoup.1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John...

   Antonyms:

   unchary

See all 5 meanings of chary