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.
Sparing; parsimonious; chary. Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. Shak.
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.
To cut short; to make small, narrow, or scanty; to curtail. "Scant not my cups." Shak.
To fail, of become less; to scantle; as, the wind scants.
In a scant manner; with difficulty; scarcely; hardly. [Obs.] Bacon. So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs. Fuller.
Scantness; scarcity. [R.] T. Carew.
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