All 4 Uses
scarcity
in
Twelfth Night
(Auto-generated)
- He is very well-favoured, and he speaks very shrewishly; one would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him.†
p. 35.7 *scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
- Would you'd pardon me; I do not without danger walk these streets: Once in a sea-fight, 'gainst the count, his galleys, I did some service; of such note, indeed, That, were I ta'en here, it would scarce be answered.†
p. 109.5
- Ay, but he will not now be pacified: Fabian can scarce hold him yonder.†
p. 129.3
- There's no remedy, sir: he will fight with you for's oath sake: marry, he hath better bethought him of his quarrel, and he finds that now scarce to be worth talking of: therefore, draw for the supportance of his vow; he protests he will not hurt you.†
p. 129.8
Definitions:
-
(1)
(scarcity) shortage (having an amount that is less than desired)
-
(2)
(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."