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

An offset where a wall or bank of earth, etc., retreats, leaving a shelf or footing.

The quality or condition of being scarce; smallness of quantity in proportion to the wants or demands; deficiency; lack of plenty; short supply; penury; as, a scarcity of grain; a great scarcity of beauties. Chaucer. A scarcity of snow would raise a mutiny at Naples. Addison. Praise . . . owes its value to its scarcity…

A fine sieve. [Obs.]

A searce, or sieve. [Obs.] Holland.

k over or through, for the purpose of finding something; to examine; to explore; as, to search the city. "Search the Scriptures." John v. 39. They are come to search the house. Shak. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Ps. cxxxix. 23.

Capable of being searched.

Quality of being searchable.

An officer of the customs whose business it is to search ships, merchandise, luggage, etc.

Exploring thoroughly; scrutinizing; penetrating; trying; as, a searching discourse; a searching eye. "Piercing, searching, biting, cold." Dickens. -- Search"ing*ly, adv. -- Search"ing*ness, n.

Impossible to be searched; inscrutable; impenetrable.

An apparatus for projecting a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays, usually devised so that it can be swiveled about.

Cerecloth. Mortimer.

Cottage cheese. [Local, U. S.]

One who belongs to the squirarchy. -- Squir"arch*al, a.

The gentlemen, or gentry, of a country, collectively. [Written also squirearchy.]

Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality. Addison. Starch hyacinth (Bot.), the grape hyacinth; -- so called because the flowers have the smell of boiled starch. See under Grape.

Stiffened with starch.

The quality or state of being starched; stiffness in manners; formality.

One who starches.