Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Penury \Pen"u*ry\, n. [L. penuria; cf. Gr. ? hunger, ? poverty,
   need, ? one who works for his daily bread, a poor man, ? to
   work for one's daily bread, to be poor: cf. F. p['e]nurie.]
   1. Absence of resources; want; privation; indigence; extreme
      poverty; destitution. ``A penury of military forces.''
      --Bacon.

            They were exposed to hardship and penury. --Sprat.

            It arises in neither from penury of thought.
                                                  --Landor.

   2. Penuriousness; miserliness. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.

Source : WordNet®

penury
     n : a state of extreme poverty or destitution; "their indigence
         appalled him"; "a general state of need exists among the
         homeless" [syn: {indigence}, {need}, {beggary}, {pauperism},
          {pauperization}]