thrifty /ˈθɹɪfti/ adjective3 •Showing thrift; economical; frugal.Nor less disastrous, should his thrifty urn / Neglected leave the once well-water'd land, / To dreary wastes yon paradise would turn, / Polluted ooze, or heaps of barren sand. — 1754 •(old-fashioned) Thriving, prosperous, successful; (of an animal or plant) growing rapidly or vigorously.the lands on this road are of an excellent quality, and in many places light timbered, in others covered with thrifty oak, black walnut, sugar maple, beach and linden. — 1794 •(no longer used) Preserved by thrift; carefully managed.They han great stores, and thriftye flockes, / great freendes and feeble foes — 1579 formsthriftier · thriftiest