scant
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Contents
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”).
Adjective[edit]
scant (comparative scanter, superlative scantest)
- Very little, very few.
- After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John.
- Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.
- a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment
- (Can we date this quote?) Ridley
- His sermon was scant, in all, a quarter of an hour.
- Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
- (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
- Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.
- (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
very little
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English scanten, from the adjective (see above).
Verb[edit]
scant (third-person singular simple present scants, present participle scanting, simple past and past participle scanted)
- (transitive) To limit in amount or share; to stint.
- to scant someone in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries
- (intransitive) To fail, or become less; to scantle.
- The wind scants.
Etymology 3[edit]
From Middle English scant, from the adjective (see above).
Noun[edit]
scant (plural scants)
- (masonry) A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
- (masonry) A sheet of stone.
- (wood) A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.
Quotations[edit]
- For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:scant.
Etymology 4[edit]
From Middle English scant, from the adjective (see above).
Adverb[edit]
scant (not comparable)
- With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.
- (Can we date this quote?) Fuller
- So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
- (Can we date this quote?) Fuller
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English adverbs
- English uncomparable adverbs
- Requests for quotation/Francis Bacon