Scant

scant
    adj 1: less than the correct or legal or full amount often
           deliberately so; "a light pound"; "a scant cup of sugar";
           "regularly gives short weight" [syn: {light}, {scant(p)},
           {short}]
    v 1: work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and
         superficially [syn: {skimp}, {scant}]
    2: limit in quality or quantity [syn: {scant}, {skimp}]
    3: supply sparingly and with restricted quantities; "sting with
       the allowance" [syn: {stint}, {skimp}, {scant}]
    

Scant \Scant\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Scanted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Scanting}.]
   1. To limit; to straiten; to treat illiberally; to stint; as,
      to scant one in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use
      of necessaries.
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            Where a man hath a great living laid together and
            where he is scanted.                  --Bacon.
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            I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your
            actions.                              --Dryden.
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   2. To cut short; to make small, narrow, or scanty; to
      curtail. "Scant not my cups." --Shak.
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Scant \Scant\, v. i.
   To fail, or become less; to scantle; as, the wind scants.
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Scant \Scant\, adv.
   In a scant manner; with difficulty; scarcely; hardly. [Obs.]
   --Bacon.
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         So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs.
                                                  --Fuller.
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Scant \Scant\, a. [Compar. {Scanter}; superl. {Scantest}.]
   [Icel. skamt, neuter of skamr, skammr, short; cf. skamta to
   dole out, to portion.]
   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.
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            His sermon was scant, in all, a quarter of an hour.
                                                  --Ridley.
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   2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
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            Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. --Shak.
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   Syn: See under {Scanty}.
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Scant \Scant\, n.
   Scantness; scarcity. [R.] --T. Carew.
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163 Moby Thesaurus words for "scant":
      Lenten, Spartan, abstemious, angustifoliate, angustirostrate,
      angustisellate, angustiseptal, arrested, ascetic, austere,
      bankrupt in, bare of, begrudge, bereft of, bound, callow,
      cheeseparing, chinchy, chintzy, circumscribed, close,
      close-fitting, condition, confine, confined, constricted, contain,
      copyright, cramp, cramped, crowded, defective, deficient,
      denuded of, deprived of, destitute of, devoid of, discipline,
      draw the line, dwarfed, dwarfish, embryonic, empty of, exiguous,
      failing, famish, for want of, forlorn of, frugal, grudge,
      hedge about, hypoplastic, immature, impoverished, in arrear,
      in arrears, in default, in default of, in short supply, in want of,
      inadequate, incapacious, incommodious, incomplete, infant,
      infrequent, insufficiency, insufficient, isthmian, isthmic, jejune,
      lacking, lean, limit, limited, live upon nothing, meager, mean,
      miserly, missing, moderate, narrow, near, needing, niggard,
      niggardly, out of, out of pocket, paltry, parsimonious, part,
      partial, patchy, patent, paucity, piddling, pinch, pinch pennies,
      poor, poverty, puny, qualify, rare, register, restrain, restrict,
      restricted, save-all, scamp, scant of, scanty, scarce, scarceness,
      scattered, scrappy, scrawny, screw, scrimp, scrimping, scrimpy,
      seldom met with, seldom seen, short, short of, shy, shy of,
      sketchy, skimp, skimping, skimpy, slender, slight, slim, small,
      spare, sparing, sparse, specialize, spotty, sprinkled, starvation,
      starve, stingy, stint, stinted, strait, straiten, straitened,
      stunted, subsistence, thin, tight, tightfisted, unblessed with,
      underdeveloped, undeveloped, unnourishing, unnutritious,
      unpossessed of, void of, wanting, watered, watery