All 8 Uses of
scarcity
in
Lonesome Dove
- Clouds were scarcer than cash money, and cash money was scarce enough.†
Chpt 1-2 *scarce = in short supply OR barely or hardly (by a small margin)
- He had told all the hands that they ought to see to their equipment; once they got on the trail, opportunities for repair work might be scarce.†
Chpt 23-24
- Fresh women is scarce in these parts.†
Chpt 48-49
- Water was scarce and the horse soon too lame to ride.†
Chpt 64-65
- It was true that game was scarce, but that wasn't the reason Luke hunted by himself.†
Chpt 66-67
- Deets went on a scout and reported that the country to the west didn't improve—grass was as scarce as water in that direction.†
Chpt 89-90
- I imagine they're about as scarce as the buffalo.†
Chpt 93-94
- Buffalo were scarce, and the fort not well provisioned.†
Chpt 97-98
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."