The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Penurious \Pe*nu"ri*ous\, a. [From Penury.]
   1. Excessively sparing in the use of money; sordid; stingy;
      miserly. "A penurious niggard of his wealth." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Not bountiful or liberal; scanty.
      [1913 Webster]

            Here creeps along a poor, penurious stream. --C.
                                                  Pitt.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Destitute of money; suffering extreme want. [Obs.] "My
      penurious band." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Avaricious; covetous; parsimonious; miserly; niggardly;
        stingy. See Avaricious.
        [1913 Webster] --Pe*nu"ri*ous*ly, adv. --
        Pe*nu"ri*ous*ness, n.
        [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

penurious
    adj 1: not having enough money to pay for necessities [syn:
           hard up, impecunious, in straitened
           circumstances(p), penniless, penurious, pinched]
    2: excessively unwilling to spend; "parsimonious thrift relieved
       by few generous impulses"; "lived in a most penurious manner
       --denying himself every indulgence" [syn: parsimonious,
       penurious]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

36 Moby Thesaurus words for "penurious":
   bankrupt, beggared, beggarly, begrudging, cheap, chintzy,
   destitute, dirt, flat broke, grudging, hard up, impecunious,
   impoverished, indigent, mean, mingy, miserly, near, necessitous,
   needy, niggard, niggardly, parsimonious, penniless, penny-pinching,
   pinchpenny, poor, poverty-stricken, shabby, sordid, stingy,
   thrifty, tight, tight-fisted, tightfisted, ungenerous