measly /ˈmiːzli/ adjective3 •Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms).Then take five or six apples, pick out the cores and fill up the holes thus made with flour of brimstone; stop up the holes and cast in the apples to the measly hog. — 1847 •(informal, figurative) Small (especially contemptibly small) in amount.For one whole day's work all I was given was twenty measly pounds. •Of a person: infected with measles.A measly boy, he looked like a tramp, probably one of the street boys from the village, just walked up here and made himself at home, and when I told him to leave, he wouldn't. — 1902 formsmeaslier · measliest