scantlyadv.
/ˈskantli/, U.S. /ˈskæntli/ 1. † b. with superfluous negative. Obsolete.
a. Scarcely, hardly, barely. archaic.Exceedingly common from the 15th to the middle of the 17th cent.; in the 18th cent. it had apparently become obsolete; revived in literary use by Scott.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adverb] > barely, scarcely, only, or just
uneathc1200
scarcely1297
albusyc1325
onlepyc1350
anerly1381
barec1400
scarce1413
scantlyc1440
narrowlyc1450
scant1492
barelya1513
hardly?1532
faintly1544
nakedly1589
just1603
rawly1607
just1627
badly1715
scrimp1756
bare-weighta1763
scrimplya1774
jimp1814
jistc1820
c1440 Ipomydon 1228 Scantly had they the mete corvyn, That in comyth the kyngis messyngere, And grette the lady in thys manere.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 15 Ȝit of thilk vertu or gouernaunce scantli is writen in al Holi Writt ten lynes.
c1480 (a1400) St. Martha 111 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 288 Scantly þe todir day fand þai quhare þe body lay.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xxi. 460 Ye can scantly heve vp your staff.
c1520 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1901) I. Luke ix. 39 And scantlie [Wycl. vnnethe; L. vix] he gais away al to drawand him.
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Cerrus The maste rough like a chesten, scantly holsome for swyne.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. x. 153 Wee are hearers of the woord, and yet skantly that.
1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iii. v. 207 I say it is scantly foure inches long.
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel iii. xvii. 78 His kirtle..Reached scantly to his knee.
a1844 T. Campbell Napoleon & Brit. Sailor 65 Our sailor oft could scantly shift To find a dinner, plain and hearty.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 16 We hold a tourney here tomorrow morn, And there is scantly time for half the work.
ΚΠ
1585 R. Parsons Christian Directorie i. viii. 87 For scantly, there is not a seuere saying of God..which commeth not now to his mind.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > retaining > sparingness or frugality > [adverb]
gnedelyc1000
fastinglya1425
scantlyc1440
sparinglyc1450
husbandly1532
savingly1534
sparely1559
charily1577
frugally1597
sparing1623
stintingly1857
c1440 Alphabet of Tales ix. 8 I liff als skantlie as I can, & diligentlie I kepe all my merchandise.
3.
a. In scant measure; inadequately; scantily. Also rarely †grudgingly.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > unwillingness > [adverb]
unwillc893
uneathc900
unthankc960
latelyOE
against a person's willa1225
loatha1340
grutchingly1340
at one's unthanksa1400
wandsomely?a1400
at (or again) one's unwillesc1400
uneathsa1425
unwilfully1435
invitec1450
tarrowinglyc1480
scantly1509
nicely1530
tarryingly1530
unwillingly?1531
loathly1547
faintly1548
evil-willingly1549
grudgingly1549
difficultly1551
loathsomely1561
dangerously1573
ill-willing1579
backwardlya1586
costively1598
with an ill will1601
with (a) bad (also ill) grace1614
sadly1622
tenderlya1628
reluctantly1646
shyly1701
uncheerfully1754
à contre-coeur1803
shrinkingly1817
retractatively1851
begrudgingly1853
forcibly1867
loathfully1887
tharfly1894
the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [adverb] > scantily or meagrely
feeblyc1290
scarcely1340
scantc1440
scantly1509
daintilya1513
barelya1535
thinly1537
leanly1580
meagrelya1586
starvedly1606
exile1654
scantily1774
skimpingly1853
skimpily1859
stintedly1863
barrenly1877
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. lxxxxiiv And where as the angels ar ther with reuerence..worshyppynge our holy sauyour These vnkynde caytyfs wyll scantly hym honour.
1597 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 918 For all the proverbs ze pervsit, ze thocht vs skantly skillit.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iii. iv. 5 He hath..spoke scantly of me. View more context for this quotation
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1958) IX. 148 Indeed, God can doe nothing scantly, penuriously, singly.
1817 J. Keats Sonnet i Cynthia is from her silken curtains peeping So scantly, that it seems her bridal night.
1840 T. Hood Miss Kilmansegg i, in New Monthly Mag. 60 87 Tables sprang up all over the lawn; Not furnish'd scantly or shabbily.
a1859 T. De Quincey Posthumous Wks. (1891) I. 50 On that ground, agreeably to the logic I have so scantly expounded.
b. Curtly. ? rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > conciseness > [adverb]
shortlyc893
brieflya1300
shortc1374
in sumc1384
compendiously1398
in brief1423
roundlya1516
succinctly?1537
brief1557
succinct1593
abbreviately1599
compactly1603
laconically1631
presslya1637
compactedly1649
curtly1654
concisely1686
laconicly1709
straightforwardly1874
scantly1885
1885 W. D. Howells Rise Silas Lapham vi. 104 ‘How?’ asked the Colonel scantly.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.c1440