Scarce

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Scarce \Scarce\, Scarcely \Scarce"ly\, adv.
     1. With difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              With a scarce well-lighted flame.     --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              The eldest scarcely five year was of age. --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides.
                                                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He had scarcely finished, when the laborer arrived
              who had been sent for my ransom.      --W. Irving.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Frugally; penuriously. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Scarce \Scarce\ (sk[^a]rs), a. [Compar. {Scarcer}
     (sk[^a]r"s[~e]r); superl. {Scarcest}.] [OE. scars, OF.
     escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, excarpsus, for L. excerptus,
     p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to
     shorten; ex (see {Ex-}) + carpere. See {Carpet}, and cf.
     {Excerp}.]
     1. Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion
        to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and
              therefore risen one fifth in value.   --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The scarcest of all is a Pescennius Niger on a
              medallion well preserved.             --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); -- with of.
        [Obs.] "A region scarce of prey." --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; stingy. [Obs.] "Too scarce
        ne too sparing." --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {To make one's self scarce}, to decamp; to depart. [Slang]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Rare; infrequent; deficient. See {Rare}.
          [1913 Webster] Scarce

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  scarce
       adj 1: not enough; hard to find; "meat was scarce during the war"
       2: deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand;
          "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought" [ant: {abundant}]
       adv : by a small margin; "they could barely hear the speaker"; "we
             hardly knew them"; "just missed being hit"; "had
             scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would
             have scarce arrived before she would have found some
             excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats [syn: {barely}, {hardly}, {just},
              {scarcely}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  55 Moby Thesaurus words for "scarce":
     almost unheard-of, at a premium, barely, cheeseparing, chinchy,
     chintzy, curtailed, deficient, exiguous, failing, few, hardly,
     in short supply, inadequate, infrequent, insufficient, lacking,
     meager, miserly, niggardly, occasional, out of print,
     out of season, out of stock, piddling, poor, rare, scant, scanty,
     scarcely, scattered, scrimping, scrimpy, seldom, seldom met with,
     seldom seen, shortened, shy, skimping, skimpy, slim, slow, sparse,
     sporadic, spotty, sprinkled, stingy, thin, tight, truncated,
     uncommon, unfrequent, unique, unusual, wanting