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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCANT, n.¹, adj., adv., v. Also skant; ¶scanth (s.Sc. 1857 H. S. Riddell Psalms xxxiii. 19); skent-. Sc. usages:

I. n. Short supply, scarcity, dearth, want or lack, poverty (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Ork., n. and wm.Sc. 1969). Now only dial. in Eng.Ayr. 1786 Burns Jolly Beggars Air 6. ii.:
If e'er ye want, or meet wi' scant.Fif. 1798 R. Flockhart Sketch of Times 13:
Of Liberty we'll have no scant.Rnf. 1806 R. Tannahill Poems (1900) 140:
Alas! for our ain scant o grace.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost xii.:
Her scant and want known only to her Maker.Edb. 1915 T. W. Paterson Auld Saws 134:
Tho' she hadna feck o' fortune — Jist a bittock 'bune the scant.Ags. 1897 F. Mackenzie North. Pine xix.:
There'll be nae scant o' cash whar onything concerns you.

II. adj. 1. As in Eng.: lacking a sufficiency, short, stinted. Comb. †scant-o-grace, a scapegrace, reprobate. Derivs. (1) scantling, a small or puny person; (2) scantlins, adv., scarcely, hardly; (3) scantly, skently, id. Arch. in Eng. till revived by Scott (Sc. 1805 Scott Lay Last Minstrel iii. xvii.). Also in the form scantily, from scanty.Sc. 1718 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 79:
Your Tippanizing, scant o' Grace, Quoth she, gars me gang duddy.Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxviii.:
I ken'd that Scant-o'-grace well eneugh frae the very outset.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 182:
Troth ye hae guid face To tell sic tales, ye nasty scant o' grace.Edb. 1866 J. Smith Poems 2:
I, a rattlin' scant-o'-grace.(1) Sc. 1857 Tait's Mag. (May) 271:
Our olive plants [children] at Cushney are neither few nor sma', nor likely to be scantlings.(2) Edb. 1772 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 33:
You'll scantlins find a hungry mou.Abd. 1776 Abd. Journal (9 Dec.):
I fear there's scantlins ane ava.Bwk. 1823 A. Hewit Poems 86:
He wi' eild can scantlins stride a strae.Abd. 1921 Swatches o' Hamespun 15:
At mony a toon the fremt fouk scantlins tastet beef the towmon roon!(3) Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 143:
My fund can scantly now Cleed a' my callants backs.Sc. 1808 Scott Marmion iii. xiv.:
Marmion, whose soul could scantly brook, Even from his king, a haughty look.Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 218:
The dawn had scantily broke when Edie and John were up.Sc. 1826 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 175:
The waterfa' that ye skently see glimmerin in the uncertain twilight.Kcb. 1901 Crockett Love Idylls xi.:
Her frugal midday meal in quantity scantly enough for one.

2. Sparing, niggardly, parsimonious. Obs. in Eng.Rnf. 1819 Harp Rnf. (Motherwell) 72:
I hate to be scrimpit or scant.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie l.:
Tell her no to be scant or scrimpit.Abd. 1993:
E wife wis some scant wi e mait at yon fairm.

III. adv. Scarcely, hardly, barely. Now dial. in Eng.Rnf. 1877 J. M. Neilson Poems 54:
Ye've been scant ower the lugs yet wi' mine.Sc. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xxii.:
I count it hardly decent — scant decent.

IV. v. To become scarce or slight in amount, force, etc. Obs. in Eng.Abd. 1871 R. Matheson Poems 49:
The fishers whistled for the win', They whistled whan it scanted.