Part 89

We hold a tourney here to-morrow morn, And there is scantly time for half the work.

Tennyson.

Scant"ness, n. The quality or condition of being scant; narrowness; smallness; insufficiency; scantiness. "Scantness of outward things." Barrow.

Scant"y (?), a. [Compar. Scantier (?); superl. Scantiest.] [From Scant, a.] 1. Wanting amplitude or extent; narrow; small; not abundant.

His dominions were very narrow and scanty.

Locke.

Now scantier limits the proud arch confine.

Pope.

2. Somewhat less than is needed; insufficient; scant; as, a scanty supply of words; a scanty supply of bread.

3. Sparing; niggardly; parsimonious.

In illustrating a point of difficulty, be not too scanty of words.

I. Watts.

Syn. -- Scant; narrow; small; poor; deficient; meager; scarce; chary; sparing; parsimonious; penurious; niggardly; grudging.

Scape (?), n. [L. scapus shaft, stem, stalk; cf. Gr. &?; a staff: cf. F. scape. Cf. Scepter.] 1. (Bot.) A peduncle rising from the ground or from a subterranean stem, as in the stemless violets, the bloodroot, and the like.

2. (Zoöl.) The long basal joint of the antennæ of an insect.

3. (Arch.) (a) The shaft of a column. (b) The apophyge of a shaft.

Scape, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Scaped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Scaping.] [Aphetic form of escape.] To escape. [Obs. or Poetic.] Milton.

Out of this prison help that we may scape.

Chaucer.

Scape, n. 1. An escape. [Obs.]

I spake of most disastrous chances, . . . Of hairbreadth scapes in the imminent, deadly breach.

Shak.

2. Means of escape; evasion. [Obs.] Donne.

3. A freak; a slip; a fault; an escapade. [Obs.]

Not pardoning so much as the scapes of error and ignorance.

Milton.

4. Loose act of vice or lewdness. [Obs.] Shak.

Scape"gal`lows (?), n. One who has narrowly escaped the gallows for his crimes. [Colloq.] Dickens.