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scarce - 6 dictionary results

scarce

  [skairs] adjective, scarc⋅er, scarc⋅est, adverb
Use scarce in a Sentence
–adjective
1. insufficient to satisfy the need or demand; not abundant: Meat and butter were scarce during the war.
2. seldom met with; rare: a scarce book.
–adverb
3. scarcely.
—Idiom
4. make oneself scarce, Informal.
a. to depart, esp. suddenly.
b. to stay away; avoid.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME scars < ONF (e)scars < VL *excarpsus plucked out, for L excerptus; see excerpt

Related forms:
scarceness, noun

Synonyms:
1. deficient. 2. uncommon, infrequent.

Antonyms:
1. abundant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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scarce   (skârs)   
adj.   scarc·er, scarc·est
  1. Insufficient to meet a demand or requirement; short in supply: Fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought.
  2. Hard to find; absent or rare: Steel pennies are scarce now except in coin shops.
adv.  Barely or hardly; scarcely.

[Middle English scars, from Old French scars, from Vulgar Latin *excarpsus, narrow, cramped, from past participle of *excarpere, to pluck out, alteration of Latin excerpere, to pick out; see excerpt.]
scarce'ness n.
Word History: The words scarce and excerpt illustrate how two words with a common ancestor can diverge from one another in form while passing from one language to another over the centuries. Both words can be traced back to the Latin word excerpere (past participle stem excerpt-), meaning "to pick out," "to pick out mentally," and "to select a passage for quotation." The path is clear and direct from excerpt- to our noun excerpt (first recorded before 1638) and verb (first recorded around 1536), a past participle usage already being recorded in the 15th century. A more tangled path leads to our word scarce. It is assumed that side by side with Latin excerpere existed the Vulgar Latin form *excarpere. *Excarpsus, an adjective formed with the past participle of *excarpere in Vulgar Latin, meant "narrow, cramped," and from this Vulgar Latin form came the Old French word échars, "insufficient, cramped," and "stingy." The Old French word, which existed in a variety of forms, including scars and the chiefly Old North French form escarse, was borrowed into Middle English as scarse, being first recorded in a manuscript written around 1300.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Scarce

Scarce\ (sk[^a]rs), a. [Compar. Scarcer (sk[^a]r"s[~e]r); superl. Scarcest.] [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, excarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See Carpet, and cf. Excerp.]

1. 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. --Locke.

The scarcest of all is a Pescennius Niger on a medallion well preserved. --Addison.

2. Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); -- with of. [Obs.] "A region scarce of prey." --Milton.

3. Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; stingy. [Obs.] "Too scarce ne too sparing." --Chaucer.

To make one's self scarce, to decamp; to depart. [Slang]

Syn: Rare; infrequent; deficient. See Rare.

Scarce

Scarce\, Scarcely \Scarce"ly\, adv. 1. 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. Irving.

2. Frugally; penuriously. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : scarce
Spanish: escaso, poco común, *frecuente,
German: knapp,
Japanese: 少ない
More Translations »

scarce 
c.1297, "restricted in quantity," from O.N.Fr. scars (O.Fr. eschars) from V.L. *escarpsus, from *excarpere "pluck out," from L. excerpere "pluck out" (see excerpt). Phrase to make oneself scarce "go away" first attested 1809 in "Gil Blas." Scarcely "hardly, only just" is from c.1297.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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scarce

In addition to the idiom beginning with scarce, also see make oneself scarce.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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