[ad. F. soupe maigre: see SOUP sb. and MAIGRE a.] Thin soup, made chiefly from vegetables or fish.
1754. Connoisseur, No. 19, ¶ 9. But what alas! are the weak endeavours of a few to oppose the daily inroads of fricassees and soup-maigres?
1766. Miss M. Townshend, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1843), II. 52. If you could persuade them of the wholesomeness of soup maigre and barley bread, it might be of great use to them.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 67. Its bad effects may in a great measure be taken off by a dinner of mutton broth, or soup maigre, on the following day.
1840. J. B. Fraser, Trav. Koordistan, etc. I. xv. 366. A sort of soup maigre, is poured upon it.
attrib. 1779. Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 30. Such a number of pinch-bellied, woebegone, skin-and-grief, lanthorn-jawed, soup-maigre subjects.
1794. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Lousiad, I. Wks. I. 210. I hate each pale soupe maigre [1812 soup-maigre] thief.
So Soup-meagre. Now rare or Obs.
1737. Fielding, Miser, III. iii. Let there be two great dishes of soup-meagre, a good large suet pudding,… and a dish of artichokes.
1799. in Spirit Public Jrnls., III. 322.
| They wait at Dover for the first fair wind, | |
| Soup-meagre in the van, and snuff; roast beef behind. |
1833. Sands, Grub & Crows, 7, in Poems, 53 (E. D. D.).
| These sage gourmands, who make their god their belly, | |
| Deal not in larks, or crows, or snipes, or widgeons | |
| Soup-meagre, kickshaws, or plain calf’s-foot jelly, | |
| But universally prefer roast beef, or lamb, or pigeons. |
1842. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. II. Lay St. Cuthbert. Here was Morbleu (a French devil) supping soup-meagre.
