scant

adjective scanter · scantest

1. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager. a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment

   Similar: sparse, spare, geason

2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary. Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.
3. of a measurement Slightly diminished; just short of the amount described. a scant cup of sugar

verb scants · scanting · scanted

1. transitive To limit in amount or share; to stint. to scant someone in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries
2. intransitive To fail, or become less; to scantle. The wind scants.

determiner

1. Very little, very few. After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John.

   Similar: little, few, slight

Opposite: ample, plenty

noun scants

1. A small piece or quantity. A blonde appeared from the officers' room, wearing a scant of material that passed for issued undergarments.
2. uncommon Scarcity; lack. As soon as the corpse was placed on the pile, and some prayers muttered by the attendant Bramin, fire was set to it at one of the corners, and the wood being dry, and in great quantity, it soon blazed up and consumed the body to ashes, without any noisome smell, such as however does not unfrequently
3. A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
4. A sheet of stone.
5. A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

adverb

1. dated, not comparable, uncommon With difficulty; scarcely; hardly. [A]ske a Stoicke vvhich Philoſophy is true, he vvil preferre his ovvne. Then aske him vvhich approacheth next the truth, he vvill confeſſe the Academiques. So deale vvith the Epicure, that vvill ſcant indure the Stoicke to be in ſight of him, ſo ſoone as he hath placed himſelfe, he vvill place the A