SCANT

light, scant, short

(adjective) less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so; “a light pound”; “a scant cup of sugar”; “regularly gives short weight”

stint, skimp, scant

(verb) supply sparingly and with restricted quantities; “stint with the allowance”

scant, skimp

(verb) limit in quality or quantity

skimp, scant

(verb) work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Adjective

scant (comparative scanter, superlative scantest)

Very little, very few.

Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.

Sparing; parsimonious; chary.

Synonyms

• (very little, few): few, little, slight

• (rare, scarce): geason; see also rare

Antonyms

• (very little, few): ample, plenty

Etymology 2

Verb

scant (third-person singular simple present scants, present participle scanting, simple past and past participle scanted)

(transitive) To limit in amount or share; to stint.

(intransitive) To fail, or become less; to scantle.

Etymology 3

Noun

scant (plural scants)

(masonry) A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.

(masonry) A sheet of stone.

(wood) A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

Etymology 4

Adverb

scant (not comparable)

With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.

Noun

scant

Scarcity; lack.

Anagrams

• can'st, canst, cants, casn't

Source: Wiktionary

Scant, a. [Compar. Scanter; superl. Scantest.] Etym: [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. His sermon was scant, in all, a quarter of an hour. Ridley.

2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary. Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence. Shak.

Syn.

– See under Scanty.

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. 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." Shak.

Scant, v. i.

Definition: To fail, of become less; to scantle; as, the wind scants.

Scant, adv.

Definition: In a scant manner; with difficulty; scarcely; hardly. [Obs.] Bacon. So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs. Fuller.

Scant, n.

Definition: Scantness; scarcity. [R.] T. Carew.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition