All 4 Uses of
scarcity
in
The Poisonwood Bible
- Newspapers as scarce as hen's teeth, and a literacy rate made to match.†
Chpt 2 *scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
- I happen to think Axelroot could get us some food too, if he tried, but he has been making himself scarce for months now, supposedly because he's on some top-secret mission.†
Chpt 4
- Leah did at least have the brains to make herself scarce.†
Chpt 4
- I've never actually seen any of these in original editions, but back in the days when print was scarce, only one printing of the Bible was widespread at any given time, and people knew it by heart.†
Chpt 6
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."