Adjacent Words

Scant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCANT, v.t.
To limit; to straiten; as, to scant one in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries; to scant a garment in cloth.
I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your actions.
SCANT, v.i. To fail or become less; as, the wind scants.
SCANT, a.
1. Not full, large or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; rather less than is wanted for the purpose; as a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment.
2. Sparing; parsimonious; cautiously affording.
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. [Not in use.]
3. Not fair, free or favorable for a ship's course; as a scant wind.
SCANT, adv. Scarcely; hardly; not quite.
The people - received of the bankers scant twenty shillings for thirty. [Obsolete or vulgar.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so; "a light pound"; "a scant cup of sugar"; "regularly gives short weight" [syn: light, scant, short] v
1: work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially [syn: skimp, scant]
2: limit in quality or quantity [syn: scant, skimp]
3: supply sparingly and with restricted quantities; "sting with the allowance" [syn: stint, skimp, scant]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr short Date: 14th century 1. dialect a. excessively frugal b. not prodigal ; chary 2. a. barely or scarcely sufficient; especially not quite coming up to a stated measure <a scant teaspoon> b. lacking in amplitude or quantity <scant growth> 3. having a small or insufficient supply <he's fat, and scant of breath — Shakespeare> Synonyms: see meager • scantly adverb • scantness noun II. adverb Date: 15th century dialect scarcely, hardly III. transitive verb Date: circa 1580 1. to provide an incomplete supply of 2. to make small, narrow, or meager 3. to give scant attention to ; slight 4. to provide with a meager or inadequate portion or supply ; stint

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & v. --adj. barely sufficient; deficient (with scant regard for the truth; scant of breath). --v.tr. archaic provide (a supply, material, a person, etc.) grudgingly; skimp; stint. Derivatives: scantly adv. scantness n. Etymology: ME f. ON skamt neut. of skammr short

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scant Scant, v. i. To fail, or become less; to scantle; as, the wind scants.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scant Scant, adv. In a scant manner; with difficulty; scarcely; hardly. [Obs.] --Bacon. So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs. --Fuller.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scant Scant, n. Scantness; scarcity. [R.] --T. Carew.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scant Scant, a. [Compar. Scanter; superl. Scantest.] [Icel. skamt, neuter of skamr, skammr, short; cf. skamta to dole out, to portion.] 1. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; less than is wanted for the purpose; scanty; meager; not enough; as, a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment. His sermon was scant, in all, a quarter of an hour. --Ridley. 2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary. Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. --Shak. Syn: See under Scanty.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scant Scant, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Scanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Scanting.] 1. To limit; to straiten; to treat illiberally; to stint; as, to scant one in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries. Where a man hath a great living laid together and where he is scanted. --Bacon. I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your actions. --Dryden. 2. To cut short; to make small, narrow, or scanty; to curtail. ``Scant not my cups.'' --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. You use scant to indicate that there is very little of something or not as much of something as there should be. She began to berate the police for paying scant attention to the theft from her car. ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. If you describe an amount as scant, you are emphasizing that it is small. This hole was a scant .23 inches in diameter... = mere ADJ: a ADJ amount [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Limit, straiten, stint. 2. Grudge, keep back, be niggard of, cut short. II. a. 1. Scanty, scarcely sufficient. 2. Scarce, short, insufficient.

Moby Thesaurus

Lenten, Spartan, abstemious, angustifoliate, angustirostrate, angustisellate, angustiseptal, arrested, ascetic, austere, bankrupt in, bare of, begrudge, bereft of, bound, callow, cheeseparing, chinchy, chintzy, circumscribed, close, close-fitting, condition, confine, confined, constricted, contain, copyright, cramp, cramped, crowded, defective, deficient, denuded of, deprived of, destitute of, devoid of, discipline, draw the line, dwarfed, dwarfish, embryonic, empty of, exiguous, failing, famish, for want of, forlorn of, frugal, grudge, hedge about, hypoplastic, immature, impoverished, in arrear, in arrears, in default, in default of, in short supply, in want of, inadequate, incapacious, incommodious, incomplete, infant, infrequent, insufficiency, insufficient, isthmian, isthmic, jejune, lacking, lean, limit, limited, live upon nothing, meager, mean, miserly, missing, moderate, narrow, near, needing, niggard, niggardly, out of, out of pocket, paltry, parsimonious, part, partial, patchy, patent, paucity, piddling, pinch, pinch pennies, poor, poverty, puny, qualify, rare, register, restrain, restrict, restricted, save-all, scamp, scant of, scanty, scarce, scarceness, scattered, scrappy, scrawny, screw, scrimp, scrimping, scrimpy, seldom met with, seldom seen, short, short of, shy, shy of, sketchy, skimp, skimping, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small, spare, sparing, sparse, specialize, spotty, sprinkled, starvation, starve, stingy, stint, stinted, strait, straiten, straitened, stunted, subsistence, thin, tight, tightfisted, unblessed with, underdeveloped, undeveloped, unnourishing, unnutritious, unpossessed of, void of, wanting, watered, watery