| 释义 |
scanty, a. and n.|ˈskæntɪ|
[f. scant n. or a. + -y.]
A. adj.
1. Of a quantity, store, supply, or any collective unity: Meagre, slender, not ample or copious.
1660Harrington Prerog. Pop. Govt. ii. v. Wks. (1700) 379 Clemens says they were very few, their Assemblys privat, and very scanty things. 1668Culpeper & Cole Barthol. Anat. Man. iii. i. 323 More plentiful or scanty influx of the Spirit. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. v. §8 The terms of our law..will hardly find words that answer them in the Spanish or Italian, no scanty languages. 1791Cowper Iliad xix. 259 Me, in no scanty measure, thou excell'st. 1836Ld. St. Helens in Croker Papers (1884) 2 Nov., [The] King..used to dispatch his solitary and scanty meal in a very short time. 1838Lytton Alice iii. i, Proud aristocrats began to recollect that a mushroom peerage was supported but by a scanty fortune. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, Since her early gladness in this best-loved boy, the harvests of her life had been scanty. 1907A. Lang Hist. Scotl. IV. xviii. 465 Congregations were scanty.
2. Deficient in extent, compass, or size.
1701Stanhope tr. Augustine's Medit. ii. ii. 115 They proportion their Regard to Him according to their own Scanty Notions of His goodness toward them. 1709Steele Tatler No. 128 ⁋4 You appear to my Imagination more agreeable in a short scanty Petticoat, than the finest woman of Quality in her spreading fardingal. a1721Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) I. 264 This scanty road bears us not both together; And we must once divide, to part no more. 1725Watts Logic i. vi. §9 Our Minds are narrow and scanty in their Capacities. 1873Dixon Two Queens iii. iii. I. 129 They sailed from Harfleur in the scantiest craft that ever ventured for a crown. 1874G. J. Whyte-Melville Uncle John xiv. II. 95 Scanty trousers..and a forward set of the hat.
3. Existing or present in small or insufficient quantity; not abundant. † Of wind: = scarce a. 1 b.
1674J. Josselyn Two Voy. 196 The wind was scanty all along. 1705–6Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 107 My paper is scanty and time more so. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §30 If our scanty experience were made the rule and measure of truth. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 304 He drives his flocks to pick the scanty blade. 1801Med. Jrnl. V. 409 Breath very short, urine scanty. 1804Naval Chron. XI. 80 Wind scanty, but fair. 1839James Louis XIV, I. 211 Forage and provisions beginning to grow scanty, and the winter approaching. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. (init.), Such a description, composed from scanty and dispersed materials, must necessarily be very imperfect. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 173 With regard to Worcestershire our knowledge is in one way still scantier, while in another it is much fuller. 1884Manch. Exam. 20 May 5/2 He pegged away, however, with his scanty dollars until he came into alliance with Jay Gould.
†4. Parsimonious. Of soil: Yielding little. Obs.
1692Dryden Eleonora 105 She..Ascribed above their due to every one, Unjust and scanty to herself alone. 1794Burke Pref. to Brissot's Addr. Constituents ⁋21 He allows a space of time for the duration of these agitations: and least he should be thought rigid and too scanty in his measure, he thinks it may be long. 1796Coleridge Ode Depart. Yr. ix, With..daily toil Soliciting for food my scanty soil.
B. n. Now only pl. Underwear, esp. short knickers or panties for women. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1928J. P. McEvoy Show Girl (title-page), The hottest little wench that ever shook a scanty at a tired business man. 1929M. Lief Hangover 269 There's no law in New Jersey forcing a husband to look at his wife's scanties, is there? 1934T. Smith Bishop's Jaegers 5 Whereas men..still struggle along with the old-fashioned..name of drawers..women have far outstripped them. Theirs must be known now by such frivolous..appellations as panties, scanties.. step-ins..and other similar..terms. 1944E. Carr House of All Sorts 101 A puff of wind from the open door caught and ballooned the scanties. 1951M. Dickens My Turn to make Tea iv. 73 No don't go, dear. You've seen me in my scanties, anyway. 1959‘O. Mills’ Stairway to Murder vii. 75 ‘Now you've got some midnight-blue scanties.’ He held up Charles's underpants apologetically. 1964J. Hale Grudge Fight i. i. 22 Bennet, who always looks after number one, is wearing Scapa scanties next to the skin. Long underpants and a long-sleeved vest made of thick, oily wool. 1977Time 24 Jan. 46/1 Maddie's blue scanties emerge from the M.P.s' briefcases at inauspicious moments and whip through the air like naval pennants. |