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Definition of Scant
1. Adjective. Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so. "Regularly gives short weight"
2. Verb. Work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially.
3. Verb. Limit in quality or quantity.
4. Verb. Supply sparingly and with restricted quantities. "Sting with the allowance"
Generic synonyms: Furnish, Provide, Render, Supply
Derivative terms: Stinter
Definition of Scant
1. a. 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.
2. v. t. To limit; to straiten; to treat illiberally; to stint; as, to scant one in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries.
3. v. i. To fail, or become less; to scantle; as, the wind scants.
4. adv. In a scant manner; with difficulty; scarcely; hardly.
5. n. Scantness; scarcity.
Definition of Scant
1. Adjective. very little, very few ¹
2. Verb. To limit in amount or share; to stint. ¹
3. Noun. (context: masonry) A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level. ¹
4. Noun. (context: masonry) A sheet of stone. ¹
5. Noun. (context: wood) A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Scant
1. meager [adj SCANTER, SCANTEST] / to provide with a meager portion [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: meager
Medical Definition of Scant
1. 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) Synonym: See Scanty. Origin: Icel. Skamt, neuter of skamr, skammr, short; cf. Skamta to dole out, to portion. 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 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." Origin: Scanted; Scanting. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Scant
Literary usage of Scant
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, Edwin Booth, Henry L Hinton (1867)
"0 love ! be moderate ; allay thy ecstasy ; lu measure rain thy joy ;' scant this
excess- 1 feel too much thy blessing ; make it less, For fear I surfeit ! ..."
2. A Glossary: Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1901)
"And where the lion's hide is thin and scant, I'll firmly patch it with the ton's
fell. ... Nav then, quoth Sarah, they may well Consider of your scant. ..."
3. A Glossary: Or, Collection of Words, Phrases, Names, and Allusions to by Robert Nares, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, Thomas Wright (1872)
"0 yes, out of cry ; by my troth I scant knew him. This done, I scant can ...
Therefore I scant tin« breathing courtesy. The instances in Shakespeare are ..."
4. The Gentleman's Magazine (1820)
"I am sorry that I cannot find this word in any of our dictionaries, for it sounds
well, and is better than gibes, derived from the French. 41. scant. ..."
5. A Dictionary of the English Language: In which the Words are Deduced from ...by Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson (1805)
"... The rest is easy, scant to rise espy'd; But mighty bulwarks fence the plainer
part: So art Helps nature, nature strengthened art. ..."
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