widow's mite

American  

noun

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

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widow's mite British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of widow's mite

First recorded in 1585–95

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

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

And when our own gift and offering must needs be poor and small, may we be encouraged by the remembrance that even a widow's mite that love has offered is precious in Thy sight.

From Project Gutenberg