scant 
Like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting 
A little cloth. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 47. 
II. intrnns. Snut., of the wind, to become 
less favorable ; blow in such a direction as to 
hinder a vessel from continuing on her course 
even when close-hauled. 
When we were a seaboord the barre the wind scanted 
vpon vs. Halcluyt's Voyages, I. 279. 
At night the wind scanted towards the 8. with rain ; so 
we tacked about and stood N. W. by JJ. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, 1. 17. 
scantilonet , . A Middle English form of scan t- 
ling 1 . 
scantily (skan'ti-li), adv. [< mnti/ + -/</'*. Cf. 
scantly.] In a scanty manner; inadequately; 
insufficiently; slightly; sparingly; niggardly, 
scantiness (skan'ti-ues), . Scanty character 
or condition ; lack of amplitude, greatness, or 
abundance ; insufficiency. 
Alexander was much troubled at the scantiness of nature 
itself, that there were no more worlds for him to disturb. 
South. 
Nature ! in the midst of thy disorders, thou art still 
friendly to the scantiness thou hast created. 
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. lie. 
SCantityt (skan'ti-ti), M. [Irreg. < scant + -ity.] 
Scantiness; scantness; scarcity. 
Such is the scantitie of them [foxes and badgers] here 
in England, in comparison of the plentie that is to be 
seene in other countries. 
Harrison, Descrip. of Eng., iii. 4. (Holinshed's Chron.) 
SCantleH (skan'tl), v. [Freq. or dim. of scant, r. 
The word was perhaps suggested by or con- 
fused with scantle 2 .] I. intrans. To become 
less ; fail ; be or become deficient. 
They [the winds] rose or scantled, as his sails would drive, 
To the same port whereas he would arrive. 
Drayton, Moon-Calf. 
II. trans. To make less ; lessen ; draw in. 
Then scantled we our sails with speedy hands. 
Greene and Lodge, J-ooking Glass for Lond. and Eng. 
The soaring kite there scantled his large wings, 
And to the ark the hovering castril brings. 
Drayton, Noah's Hood. 
SCantle 2 (skan'tl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. scantled, 
ppr. scantling. [< OF. escanteler, eschanteler, 
break into cantles, < es- (< L. ex-), out, + can- 
lei, later chantel, a cantle, corner-piece : see can- 
tle. Cf. scantling 1 .] 1. To cut up or divide 
into small pieces; partition. 
The Pope's territories will, within a century, be scantled 
out among the great powers who have now a footing in 
Italy. Chesterfield. 
2f. To cut down or cut short; scant. 
The chines of beef in great houses are scantled to buie 
chains of gold; and the almes that was wont to releeve 
the poore is husbanded better to buy new rebatoes. 
Lodge, Wit's Miserie (1596). (HalUwell.) 
scantle 3 (skan'tl), . [< scantle'i, v., perhaps 
in part < Norw. scant, a measuring-rod: see 
scant.] A gage by which slates are regulated 
to their proper length. 
SCantlett (skant'let), n. [< scant-, the assumed 
base of scantling 1 , the suffix -let being substi- 
tuted for the supposed equiv. -ling : see scant- 
ling 1 .] A small pattern ; measurement. 
While the world was but thin, the ages of mankind were 
longer ; and as the world grew fuller, so their lives were 
successively reduced to a shorter scantlet, till they came 
to that time of life which they now have. 
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind. 
scantling 1 (skant'ling), w. [Also scantlin, now 
regarded as a corruption, but really a variant 
of the correct early mod. E. scantlon (the term. 
-ling being a conformation to -ling 1 ); < ME. 
xrantlyoit, scanklyone, skanklyone, < OF. cschan- 
tillon, a small cantle, scantling, sample, dim. of 
*eschaittil, *escantil, escandil, eschantille, eschan- 
dille (of. escanteler, eschanteler, break into can- 
ties, cut up into small pieces: see scantle 2 ), 
< es- (< L. ex-), out, + cant 1 , a corner-piece, > 
cantel, a cantle, corner-piece (> G. dial, kantel, 
a ruler, measure): see cantle. In def. 5 the word 
is appar. associated with scantling 2 , scant.'] If. 
A pattern; sample; specimen. 
This may be taken as a Scantling of King Henry's great 
Capacity. Baker, Chronicles, p. 294. 
2. A rough draft; ii rude sketch. 3f. A mea- 
suring-rod. 
Though it were of no rounde stone, 
Wrought with squyre and scantilone. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 7064. 
4. Measurement ; size ; dimensions ; compass ; 
grade. 
Remede . . . that allay which Goldsmiths, Jewellers, 
and Mony-makers are permitted to add unto the allowed 
imbasement of Gold and Silver. . . . This advantage they 
have gotten upon allegation that they cannot precisely 
hit or justly keep the mintling required of them by the 
law. Cntyrace. 
5375 
This our Cathedral], . . . hailing now beene twise burnt, 
is brought to a lesser scantliny. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 578. 
Your lordship's wisdom and mine is much about a scant- 
liny. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, i. 1. 
5. A small quantity, number, or amount ; a 
modicum. 
We must more take care that our desires should cease 
than that they should be satisfied : and therefore redu- 
cing them to narrow scantlings and small proportions ia 
the best instrument to redeem their trouble. 
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, ii. 1. 
Provided he got but his scantling of Burgundy. 
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, viL 21. 
Mr. Cotton also replied to their answer very largely, 
and stated the differences in a very narrow scantling. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 264. 
Remove all these, remains 
A scantling, a poor dozen at the best. 
Browning, Paracelsus. 
6. In naval arch., the size in any case under con- 
sideration of some one of the principal parts of 
the hull of a ship, such as floors, frames, out- 
side plating, etc. 7. In carp, and stone-cutting, 
the size to which it is intended to cut timber 
or stone; the length, breadth, and thickness 
of a timber or stone. 8. A small beam less 
than five inches square in section, such as the 
quartering for a partitiou, rafters, purlins, or 
pole-plates in a roof, etc. 
Sells the last scantling, and transfers the price 
To some shrewd sharper, ere it buds again. 
Cowper, Task, iii. 753. 
I then took up three planks from the flooring of the 
chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. 
Poe, Tales, I. 385. 
The roof had no shingles, nothing but scantling. 
The Century, XL. 222. 
9. A kind of trestle or horse for supporting a 
cask Scantling number, a number computed from 
certain known dimensions of a ship, and fixing the sizes 
of frames, floors, etc., the method of computation and 
the scantlings corresponding thereto being regulated by 
some large insurance society, such as Lloyd's, or the Bu- 
reau Veritas. Scantling- sticks, sticks upon which are 
marked the moldings of the square body- frames of a ship. 
Thearle, Naval Arch. Scheme Of scantling. See scheme. 
scantling 2 ^ (skant'ling), a. [< scant + -ling 2 , or 
ppr. of scantle 1 , vy. see scantle 1 .] Scant; small, 
scantly (skant'li), adv. [< ME. scantly, skante- 
ly ; < scant + -ly 2 .] 1. In a scant manner 
or degree; sparingly; illiberally; slightly or 
slightingly. 
Spoke scantly of me, when perforce he could not 
But pay me terms of honour. 
Shak., A. and C., iii. 4. 6. 
A grace but scantly thine. Tennyson, Balin and Balan. 
2. Scarcely; hardly; barely. 
And the duste a-rose so thikke that scantly a man myght 
se fro hym-self the caste of a stone. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 193. 
In faith, it was ouere skantely scored ; 
That inakis it fouly for to faile. 
York Plays, p. 352. 
fii-nnil.il there were folke enow to remoue a piece of ar- 
tillery. HaMui/ts Voyages, II. 89. 
Marmion, whose soul could scantly brook, 
Even from his king, a haughty look. 
Scott, Marmion, iii. 14. 
scantness (skant'nes), n. [< ME. scantnesse, 
scantenesse; < scant + -ness.'] Scant condition 
or state; narrowness; smallness: as, the scant- 
ness of our capacities. 
Either strutting in unwieldy bulk, or sinking in de- 
fective scantness. Barrow, Works, I. ix. 
scant-of-grace (skant'ov-gras), n. A good-for- 
nothing fellow ; a graceless person ; a scape- 
grace. 
Yet you associate yourself with a sort of scant-of-yrace, 
as men call me. Scott, Kenilworth, iii. 
scanty (skan'ti), n. [< scant + -i/ 1 .] 1. Lacking 
amplitude or extent; narrow; small; scant. 
His dominions were very narrow and scanty. Locke. 
To pass there was such scanty room, 
The bars, descending, razed his plume. 
Scott, Marmion, vi. 14. 
2. Limited in scope, copiousness, fullness, or 
abundance ; barely sufficient for use or neces- 
sity: as, a scanty wardrobe. 
Our Rais . . . found himself under great difficulties to 
provide water enough for the voyage, for we had but a 
scanty provision left. Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 328. 
3. Sparing; niggardly; parsimonious. 
In illustrating a point of difficulty be not too scanty of 
words. Watts. 
=Syn. 2. Short, insufficient, slender, meager. 
Scapanus (skap'a-nus), n. [NL. (Pomel, 1848), 
< Gr. CTKOTrui';/, a digging-tool, mattock, < mdvTciv, 
dig.] A genus of North American shrew-moles 
of the subfamily Talpinx, having the median 
upper incisors enlarged, resembling those of 
rodents, and the end of tin- snout not fringed. 
scapegrace 
The teeth are 3 incisors in each upper and 2 in c-ach lower 
half-jaw, and 1 canine, 4 preniolars, and 3 molars above and 
below on each side. There are 2 species, S. townsendi and 
S. ainericanug, the latter being the hniry-tuik-d mole of 
the United States, formerly called Scalops breiceri. These 
moles outwardly resemble Scalops quite closely, but the 
dental formula is different. 'I he hairy-tailed is the near- 
est American representative of the common mole of Eu- 
rope, Talpa europeea. 
scape 1 ! (skap), r. /. or t. [< ME. scapen, aphetic 
form of ascapen, aslcapen, escapen, escliapen, es- 
cape : see escape.'} To escape. 
Help us to scape, or we been lost echon. 
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 422. 
They had rather let all their enemies scape than to fol- 
low them out of array. 
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 10. 
scapeH (skap), . [(scape 1 , -p.] 1. An escape. 
Hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach. 
Shalt., Othello, i. 3. 136. 
2. Means of escape ; evasion. 
Crafty mate, 
What other scape canst thou excogitate? 
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymn to Apollo, 1. 511. 
3. Freak; aberration; deviation; escapade; 
misdemeanor; trick; cheat. 
Then lay'st thy scapes on names ador'd. 
Milton, P. R., ii. 189. 
For day, quoth she, night's scapes doth open lay. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 747. 
Slight scapes are whipt, but damned deeds are praised. 
Maiston, Satires, v. 138. 
Scape a (skap), n. [< F. scape = Sp. escapo = It. 
scapo, a shaft, < L. scapus, the shaft of a pillar, 
the stalk of a plant, etc., a pillar, beam, post, = 
Gr. (Doric) and- 
TOf , a shaft, staff, 
cf. OKfj-rrrpov, a 
staff, scepter : 
see scepter.] 1. 
In 60 1., a radi- 
cal peduncle or 
stem bearing the 
fructification 
without leaves, 
as in the narcis- 
sus, primrose, 
hepatica, stem- 
less violets, hya- 
cinth, etc. See 
also cuts under i 
jonquil and put- 
ty root. Alsosco- 
/ms. 2. In en- 
torn. : (a) The 
basal joint of 
an antenna, especially when it is long and slen- 
der, as in the geniculate antennae of many hy- 
menopters and coleopters, or the two proximal 
joints, as in dipters, generally small and differ- 
ent from the others. When these two joints are quite 
separate, the basal onebeeomes the bulbils, leaving the name 
scape for the next one. (6) The stem-like basal por- 
tion of the halter or poiser of a dipter. 3. In 
ornitli., the shaft or stem of a feather: a rachis ; 
a scapus. Coues. 4. Inare/i.,theapophygeor 
spring of a column ; the part where a column 
springs from its base, usually molded into a 
concave sweep or cayetto. 
scape 3 (skap),?*. [Said to be imitative.] 1. The 
cry of the snipe when flushed. 2. The snipe 
itself. 
scape-gallows (skap'gaFoz), . [< scape 1 , v., 
+ obj. gallon's.] One who has escaped the gal- 
lows though deserving hanging ; a villain: used 
in objurgation. 
"And remember this, scape-gallows," said Ralph, . . . 
" that if we meet again, and you so much as notice me by 
one begging gesture, you shall see the inside of a gaol 
once more." Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xliv. 
scapegoat (skap'got), . [< scape 1 + goat.] 
1. In the ancient Jewish ritual, a goat on which 
the chief priest, on the day of atonement, sym- 
bolically laid the sins of the people. The goat 
was then driven into the wilderness. Lev. xvi. 
Hence 2. One who is made to bear the blame 
of the misdeeds of others. 
And heap'd the whole inherited sin 
On that huge scape-goat of the race ; 
All, all upon the brother. 
Tennyson, Maud, xiii. 3. 
scapegrace (skap'gras), . [< scape 1 , t'., + obj. 
grace.] 1. A graceless fellow ; a careless, idle, 
harebrained fellow. 
I could not always be present to guard the little scape- 
grace from all the blows which were aimed at his young 
face by pugilists of his own size. Thackeray, Philip, Ii. 
2. The red-throated diver or loon, Colymbus 
septentrioni/lix. Also rape race. [Local, New 
Eng.] 
Scape. 
Wild hyacinth (Scftla nntans). -z. Oxlip 
(Primula elatior), s, s, scapes. 
