SCARCE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Scarce

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adjective

Scarce adj. (compar. scarcer; superl. scarcest)

Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. "You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and therefore risen one fifth in value." "The scarcest of all is a Pescennius Niger on a medallion well preserved."

Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); with of. (Obs.) "A region scarce of prey."

Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; stingy. (Obs.) "Too scarce ne too sparing."

To make one's self scarce, to decamp; to depart. (Slang)

Synonyms: Rare; infrequent; deficient. See Rare.

adverb

Scarcely, Scarce adv.

With difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just. "With a scarce well-lighted flame." "The eldest scarcely five year was of age." "Slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides." "He had scarcely finished, when the laborer arrived who had been sent for my ransom."

Frugally; penuriously. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Scarce'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scarce" Quotes from Famous Books

... extensive areas are to be restocked within a short period and seed is abundant, the work can be completed quickly. On the other hand, this method is wasteful of seed because a large proportion fails to germinate and the young seedlings often succumb to adverse conditions, so that where seed is scarce or its cost high, planting is the more ...

— Practical Forestry in the Pacific Northwest • Edward Tyson Allen

... ideas could not solve, I should so stubbornly have opposed as unreal all that could be referred to the spiritual! Strange, that at the very time when the thought that I might lose from this life the being I had known scarce a month had just before so appalled me, I should thus complacently sit down to prove that, according to the laws of the nature which my passion obeyed, I must lose for eternity the blessing I now hoped I had won to my life! But how distinctly dissimilar is man in ...

— A Strange Story, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... your lamp?" asked Lyster; and, scarce waiting for a reply, he drew back the blanket and entered the darkness of ...

— That Girl Montana • Marah Ellis Ryan

... young moon was upon the terrace, casting faint, motionless shadows over greensward and stone flags. For a little while Sir John stood looking down into the stream, which seemed asleep to-night. Upon it the shadows quivered, but scarce a ripple of music came from underneath its banks. A man might well feel some regrets for the past on such a night of peace, might well hear the small voice of conscience distinctly, but with Sir John there was only superstition ...

— The Brown Mask • Percy J. Brebner

... returned to her companions, and as she went some of the men who had witnessed the behaviour of those who had insulted her, advised them to make themselves scarce, as they stood a good chance of getting a thrashing from the girl's friends. They said it would serve them dam' well right if ...

— The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists • Robert Tressell

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