All 3 Uses of
scarcity
in
As You Like It
- 'Tis true; for those that she makes fair she scarce makes honest; and those that she makes honest she makes very ill-favouredly.†
Scene 1.2 *scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
- So had you need; I scarce can speak to thank you for myself.†
Scene 2.6
- Farewell, monsieur traveller: look you lisp and wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity, and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are; or I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola.†
Scene 4.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(scarcity) shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely (and typically in classic literature), scarce can be short for scarcely or hardly or barely or by a small margin -- such as in "She was scarce ten years old," or "I scarce know why."