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Scarce

adjective
(compar. scarcer; superl. scarcest)
1.
Deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand.



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"Scarce" Quotes from Famous Books



... passages of the recital, it is important that you should believe my word. For some of the facts I can bring no other testimony than my own. If you do not wish to believe me, so be it. I can scarce believe ...
— The Master of the World • Jules Verne

... this State of Franklin became very much deranged. Specie was scarce, and equally scarce were the notes of specie-paying banks. But the legislature did not propose any divorce of government and people; they did not seek to establish two currencies, one for men in office, and one for the rest of the community. ...
— The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster • Daniel Webster

... protect them, is the same; not considering that the estate of Man can never be without some incommodity or other; and that the greatest, that in any forme of Government can possibly happen to the people in generall, is scarce sensible, in respect of the miseries, and horrible calamities, that accompany a Civill Warre; or that dissolute condition of masterlesse men, without subjection to Lawes, and a coercive Power to tye their ...
— Leviathan • Thomas Hobbes

... Of course I did," cried Trevor, drawing it from his breast-pocket. "The truth is I'm so knocked up that I scarce ...
— Twice Bought • R.M. Ballantyne

... Mother Jael's power of making herself scarce, for when he entered the tent he found it tenanted only by Daisy Norsham, who was looking in some bewilderment at an empty chair. The cunning old gipsy had once ...
— The Bishop's Secret • Fergus Hume

... the landscape stretches bare, The bleak fields lying far and wide, Monotonous, with here and there A lone tree on a lone hillside. No more the land is glorified With golden gleams of ripening corn, Scarce is a cheerful hue descried— The leaves are off Queen ...
— Robert F. Murray - his poems with a memoir by Andrew Lang • Robert F. Murray

... usually stipulated that a part of the pay is to be reserved until the close of the season; otherwise those disposed to have a holiday leave when the weather becomes unpleasant or seek greener pastures when the grapes become scarce. ...
— Manual of American Grape-Growing • U. P. Hedrick

... especially butchers meat, are very scarce here; what there is costs 20 sous per pound; but turtle is procured from St. Branden, and sold at a much ...
— An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island • John Hunter

... it; or grief was settling down and taking its proper place at the bottom of my heart, leaving the surface as usual. For twelve hours that day we went by a slow railway train through a country of weary monotony. Endless forests of pine seemed all that was to be seen; scarce ever a village; here and there a miserable clearing and forlorn-looking house; here and there stoppages of a few minutes to let somebody out or take somebody in; once, to my great surprise, a stop of rather more than a few minutes to accommodate a lady who wanted ...
— Daisy • Elizabeth Wetherell

... know much now of these remote regions, beyond the fact that there are such places, and that they are sometimes visited by detachments, war-parties, hunters, and other adventurers from the colonies. To me, it seems scarce worth fighting about such distant and wild territory; for ages and ages must elapse before it can be of any service for the purposes of civilization. Both Dirck and myself regretted that the summer would be likely to go by without our seeing the enemy; for we came of families ...
— Satanstoe • James Fenimore Cooper

... "And they are scarce, child, and should be rewarded and preserved. That is what I meant, silly one; this Captain is not rich—but then, ...
— Maruja • Bret Harte

... hunting for Big White Bear! And he didn't have a gun or a spear or a bow and arrow! Now what do you think of that! You see, it was this way. It was winter time, and food was becoming very scarce on the hills and the tundra. All the delicious roots were frozen hard in the earth, and the berries were all gone. Little White Fox was very hungry, and he told Little Mrs. White Fox ...
— Little White Fox and his Arctic Friends • Roy J. Snell

... will do. Old Sol has scarce seemed to illumine the Western heavens ere I seek my humble couch. And yet I do not pose as a saint. But stop! If I do not greatly err, the junior Senator from Massachusetts seems restless and eager-eyed. I think he would like to take the floor. I know ...
— The Statesmen Snowbound • Robert Fitzgerald

... really gay and gorgeous with the silks, damasks, and tapestries of all bright hues, that flaunted from windows and balconies, whence ladies looked forth and looked down, themselves making the liveliest part of the show. The whole capacity of the street swarmed with moving heads, leaving scarce room enough for the carriages, which, as on Sunday, passed up and down, until the signal for the race was given. Equipages, too, were constantly arriving at the door of the building which communicates with the open loggia, where the Grand Ducal party sit to see and to be seen. Two ...
— Passages From the French and Italian Notebooks, Complete • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... clothes, drawing on his whitened hands a pair of woman's gloves; that was not the same Tim who by his artful lies had won what had been denied my stupid, blundering devotion. My Tim was a sturdy little fellow whose booted legs scarce touched the floor, whose tousled black head hardly showed above the desk-top. His cheeks would turn crimson at the thought of woman's gloves on those brown hands. His tongue would cleave to his mouth in a woman's presence, let alone his lying to her. That was the real Tim—the ...
— The Soldier of the Valley • Nelson Lloyd

... old, the Earth is cold, She shivers and complains; How many Winters fierce and chill Have racked her limbs with pains! Drear tempests, lightning, flood and flame Have scarred her visage so, That scarce we deem she shone so ...
— A Brief Commentary on the Apocalypse • Sylvester Bliss

... ears, and between it and the sheet her face, almost as white, was turned with closed eyes to the faces of her brothers and sisters. In its extraordinary peace the face was stronger than ever, nearly all bone now under the scarce-wrinkled parchment of skin—square jaw and chin, cheekbones, forehead with hollow temples, chiselled nose—the fortress of an unconquerable spirit that had yielded to death, and in its upward sightlessness seemed trying to regain ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... he had in readiness, as usual, the funds for an Eighth Campaign, had such been needed. Out of these moneys he proceeded to rebuild the Towns and Villages; "from the Corn-Stores (GRANARIES D'ABONDANCE," Government establishments gathered from plentiful harvests against scarce, according to old rule) "were taken the supplies for food of the people and sowing of the ground: the horses intended for the artillery, baggage and commissariat," 60,000 horses we have heard, "were distributed among those who had none, to be employed in tillage of the land. Silesia ...
— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XXI. (of XXI.) • Thomas Carlyle

... round hole near his feet, and this was the house of Spider-Woman.* 'Um-pi-tuh,' said the voice ('you have arrived,'—the ordinary Hopi greeting). 'My heart is glad; I have long been expecting you; come down into my house.' 'How can I,' said Tiyo, 'when it will scarce admit the point of my toe?' She said, 'Try,' and when he laid his foot upon the hole, it widened out larger than his body, and he passed down into a ...
— The Grand Canyon of Arizona: How to See It, • George Wharton James

... general direction this action has been consistent, though often far from praiseworthy. It has aimed steadily at the control of the sea. One of its most arrogant expressions dates back as far as the reign of James I., when she had scarce any possessions outside her own islands; before Virginia or Massachusetts was settled. Here is Richelieu's account ...
— The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 • A. T. Mahan

... encamped at the place where we have seen them, hunting, fishing, fasting, and quarrelling, the latter so effectually that numbers of them took to their canoes and paddled angrily away, scarce a fourth of the original array being left for the march upon ...
— Historic Tales, Vol. 1 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... rumours as to the cause of his prolonged visit became current in the little town. No female scion of the present family of Courcy had, as yet, found a mate. We may imagine that eagles find it difficult to pair when they become scarce in their localities; and we all know how hard it has sometimes been to get comme il faut husbands when there has been any number ...
— Doctor Thorne • Anthony Trollope

... when the advantages of a free trade in corn have been discussed, that the jealousies and fears of nations, respecting their means of subsistence, will very rarely allow of a free egress of corn, when it is in any degree scarce. Our own statutes, till the very last year, prove these fears with regard to ourselves; and regulations of the same tendency occasionally come in aid of popular clamour in almost all countries of Europe. But the laws respecting ...
— The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn: intended as an appendix to "Observations on the corn laws" • Thomas Malthus

... to observe the intense admiration with which Pepito gazed upon her, for her beauty was truly fascinating. Notwithstanding my suspicions of the absence of that inner spiritual beauty which should adorn all female loveliness, I myself could scarce resist the spell she exercised on my feelings, even in ...
— Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. VI, June, 1862 - Devoted To Literature and National Policy • Various

... is, all offices of life are, as it were, granted to him and his deputy; for he may exercise them by his friend. How many things are there, which a man cannot, with any face or comeliness, say or do himself; A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate, or beg, and a number of the like: but all these things are graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a man's own. So again, a man's person hath ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various

... live; the expression, too, of hopeless, imploring agony with which he turned his eyes from object to object, I can never forget. At length, appearing suddenly to recollect himself, he said, with startling alertness, but in a voice so altered that I scarce could recognise ...
— The Purcell Papers - Volume I. (of III.) • Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

... upon an ingenious method for carrying out his plans. I have already said that Percy was very rich, and spent his money wildly, not caring at what expenditure he gratified his passion. I was the last person to reproach him for his extravagance, and in a country where money is always scarce his guineas opened every door ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

... winged angel said to them that they should not return by the region of San Lorenzo but by the Porta Romana; which also was done. There was so great a concourse of the people and soldiers and ladies and clerics that scarce anything like it was ever beheld. And it was ordered that every year this festal show ...
— Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan • Clement A. Miles

... his "improvement" schemes, forsooth! I learned to ride in the Centry meadows—prettiest spring meadows in the world; I've climbed every tree there. Why my father ever sold——! But who could have imagined this? And come at a bad moment, when money's scarce. ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... for them. And as they really wanted some house, rather than huts, to shelter them at that time of the year, it growing on towards Michaelmas, they found an old decayed house, which had been formerly some cottage or little habitation, but was so out of repair as[217] scarce habitable; and by consent of a farmer, to whose farm it belonged, they got leave to make what ...
— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe

... description of Jerusalem is that of Danville; but his little treatise is very scarce. In general, all travellers are very exact as to Palestine; there is a letter in the 'Lettres Edifiantes' ('Missions to the Levant'), which leaves nothing to be desired. With regard to M. de Volney, he is valuable on the government of the Turks, but it is evident ...
— Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time - Volume 1 • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... taking away Mr. Lincoln's private effects, to deposit them wheresoever his family may abide, and the emptiness of the place, on this sunny Sunday, revives that feeling of desolation from which the land has scarce recovered. I rise from my seat and examine the maps; they are from the coast survey and engineer departments, and exhibit all the contested grounds of the war: there are pencil lines upon them where some one has traced the route of armies, and planned the strategic circumferences of campaigns. ...
— The Life, Crime and Capture of John Wilkes Booth • George Alfred Townsend

... cares much for that kind of plaything at close range. But Massey didn't move. It got him, clean in the heart. He couldn't have suffered a second. It was all over in a breath. He fell and the mob made itself scarce. Another fellow and I were the first to get to him but there wasn't anything to do but look in his pockets and find out who he was. We found his name on a card with this address and your name scribbled on it in pencil. I say, Mr. Carson, I am horribly sorry," suddenly perceiving Dick's white ...
— Wild Wings - A Romance of Youth • Margaret Rebecca Piper

... chairs, and 2 or 3 pretty long forms to sit on. Having supped with him I invited him on board, and went off in my boat. The next morning he came aboard with another gentleman in his company, attended by 2 servants: but he was presently seasick and so much out of order that he could scarce eat or drink anything, ...
— A Voyage to New Holland • William Dampier

... shade, with loosened bits, but saddled, ready at the first sound of the bugle to skirr through brake and thicket. Distant fires, dimly burning, sent up their faint white smokes, that, mingling with the thick forest tops, which they could not pierce, were scarce distinguishable from the long grey moss which made the old trees look like so many ancient patriarchs. But the most remarkable object in all this scene was Marion himself. Could it be that the person who stood before our visitor—"in stature ...
— The Life of Francis Marion • William Gilmore Simms

... hands, There is no speech so sure as thing. Lips falter with so much To tell, eyes fill with thoughts I scarce divine, But thy least touch Soul understands. Dear giving, taking hands, There are no gifts so free as thine. One last gem from the heart of the mine, One last cup from the veins of the vine, From ...
— Songs of Two • Arthur Sherburne Hardy

... the mountains, from the mountains to Saratoga, from Saratoga to Montreal, from Montreal to the Thousand Isles, and thence they scarce knew where, the travelers wended their way, stopping not long at any place, for Margaret was ever seeking change. Greatly had she been admired, her pale, beautiful face attracting attention at once; but from all flattery ...
— Maggie Miller • Mary J. Holmes

... weakening. The winds were variable, and for the time being scarce a breath of air ...
— The Mutineers • Charles Boardman Hawes

... the royal income arises from the frauds and violations of law which are practiced in the Mexican trade. The payment of tributes by the Indians in money is demoralizing them; they no longer pursue their former usual labors, and their products are now scarce and high-priced. They ought to be compelled to work, at agriculture, stock-raising, and mining. The treasury needs more money, and more Indians should be assigned to the crown. Encomiendas are fraudulently assigned by the governors. The erection ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume XI, 1599-1602 • Various

... moment as if doubtful still; then again glancing at Kenelm, and assured by the grave kindness of his countenance, uttered a scarce audible assent and ...
— Kenelm Chillingly, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... ordination could ever boast of!... It is a sensible addition, unto their horrour, to see the horrid character of more than one or two, who have got themselves qualified with Episcopal ordination, ... and come over as missionaries, perhaps to serve scarce twenty families of such people, in a town of several hundred families of Christians, better instructed than the very missionaries: to think, that they must have no other ministers, but such as are ordained, and ordered by them, who have sent ...
— The Emancipation of Massachusetts • Brooks Adams

... well-lighted, populous streets. The light and the crowd attracted him, occupied his mind and distracted his thoughts, and when he was tired of walking aimlessly about among the moving crowd, when he saw the foot passengers becoming more scarce and the pavements less crowded, the fear of solitude and silence drove him into some large cafe full of drinkers and of light. He went there as flies go to a candle, and he would sit down at one of the little round tables and ask for a "bock," which he would drink slowly, feeling ...
— Maupassant Original Short Stories (180), Complete • Guy de Maupassant

... financial condition rested on Von Barwig. It was he who was compelled to make arrangements with Miss Husted and it was a hard blow to him to have the additional incumbrance, especially when times were so hard and pupils so scarce. It may be imagined that Miss Husted did not take very kindly to the new arrival, who was unable to pay even his first week's room rent. Of course she sympathised with his misfortune, but thought he should have taken care of his money and not have handed it to the first person ...
— The Music Master - Novelized from the Play • Charles Klein

... have in the present legislature so many warm and active friends, who gave that body no rest until their point was carried. And here we find ourselves suddenly brought into a campaign almost as novel as momentous, with scarce a precedent to guide us. We ask the electors of Michigan to share their civil and political power with those who have always been denied all electoral rights—to vest the popular sovereignty not merely in themselves, in a quarter of a million of ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... the school of musketry regulations, and I rendered all the returns in manuscript, the report showing fair average shooting. There was a band of twenty under Bandmaster Harry Walker, late of the Imperial 7th Fusiliers. It was in good shape and kept busy, for bands were scarce in the city at that time. We gave entertainments at the fort occasionally. There was excellent talent among the men and it was always put to good use. The bandmaster was always ready to help us in every way possible. A most pleasing incident ...
— A Soldier's Life - Being the Personal Reminiscences of Edwin G. Rundle • Edwin G. Rundle

... he cried. "Great Scott, ain't that just like a woman!" Reassuringly he went on: "Now look here, Fanny, you leave this to me. When Virginia comes you make yourself scarce, get busy in the kitchen or something and I'll talk to her. ...
— Bought and Paid For - From the Play of George Broadhurst • Arthur Hornblow

... malady, is ignorant and cruel. It is a real, and a sad disease: an obstruction of the spleen by thickened and distempered blood; extending itself often to the liver, and other parts; and unhappily is in England very frequent: physick scarce knows one more fertile in ill; or more difficult of cure.") His belief that the condition afflicts sedentary persons, particularly students, philosophers, theologians, and that it is not restricted to women alone—as some ...
— Hypochondriasis - A Practical Treatise (1766) • John Hill

... mend, as is evident by their large and lavishing promises to do it. I have known many that, when they have been sick, have had large measures of this kind of repentance, and while it has lasted, the noise and sound thereof has made the town to ring again. But, alas! how long has it lasted? ofttimes scarce so long as until the party now sick has been well. It has passed away like a mist or a vapour, it has been a thing of no continuance. But this kind of repentance is by God compared to the howling of a dog. 'And they have not cried unto me with their ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... nurses are very scarce. Their temper, or habits, or general health, will often be such as no genuine parent would desire, and such as they ought to be sorry to see engrafted, in any degree, on the child. For even admitting what is claimed by some, that the ...
— The Young Mother - Management of Children in Regard to Health • William A. Alcott

... wake once more! how rude soe'er the hand That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray; O, wake once more! though scarce my skill command Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay: Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, And all unworthy of thy nobler strain, Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway, The wizard note has not been touched in vain. ...
— The Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott

... "Scarce a town is there—from Boston, with its magnificent column crowned with the statue of America at the dedication of which even the conquered Southron came to pay honor, to the humblest stone in rural villages—in which these monuments ...
— The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 4 • Various

... which he had been accustomed to carry in his pocket in all his visits to his poor people. In these days, Bibles are so common that every little boy and girl may have one; but this was not the case in former days; Bibles were very scarce and very difficult to get; and this Henri knew, and therefore he knew how to ...
— The Fairchild Family • Mary Martha Sherwood

... the former mistress of the furmity tent—once thriving, cleanly, white-aproned, and chinking with money—now tentless, dirty, owning no tables or benches, and having scarce any customers except two small whity-brown boys, who came up and asked for "A ha'p'orth, please—good measure," which she served in a couple of chipped ...
— The Mayor of Casterbridge • Thomas Hardy

... that hangs back in their Poles. They are more round visaged than the Men, and generally well featured; only their Noses are very small, and so low between their Eyes, that in some of the Female Children the rising that should be between the Eyes is scarce discernable; neither is their any sensible rising in their Foreheads. At a distance they appear very well; but being nigh, these Impediments are very obvious. They have very small Limbs. They wear but ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898—Volume 39 of 55 • Various

... was gone, Mary fell a-thinking afresh. It was all very well, she said to herself, to talk about doing her work, but here she was with scarce a shadow of an idea what her work was! Had any work been given her to do in this house? Had she presumed in coming—anticipated the guidance of Providence, and was she therefore now where she had no right to be? She could ...
— Mary Marston • George MacDonald

... companion, "scarce a day passes without groups of these unfortunates being held before a magistrate, and humanely disposed of in various ways, with the view of preventing a recurrence to vicious habits,—but in vain;—the stain is more attributed to the depraved nature of man, who first seduces, ...
— Real Life In London, Volumes I. and II. • Pierce Egan

... through them. Sometimes the posts are put at a greater distance apart, and "droppers" placed between them at distances of 7 or 8 ft. Some of these droppers are of split timber, but patent droppers, made of wire and iron, can be obtained. Where timber is scarce such fences are cheaper. The droppers hold the wires to which they are attached in their place, but are not sunk into the ground. Fencing costs about $144.00 to $168.00 per mile. Netting the fences ...
— Wheat Growing in Australia • Australia Department of External Affairs

... indeed! What thou wouldst ne'er expect—wilt scarce believe! Long-hidden wrong, wondrously come to light, And great right done! But more of this anon. Now of my ward discourse! Likes she the town? How does she? Is she well? Canst match me her ...
— The Hunchback • James Sheridan Knowles

... And thence thread a jungle of grass: Hurdles and stiles scarce visible stand Above the ...
— Late Lyrics and Earlier • Thomas Hardy

... pleasant-looking man came forward, and I asked him what mica was worth. He looked at me sharply and answered that he was not thoroughly informed as to the state of the market, but that he thought it was worth all the way from five to twenty-five dollars a pound. "But mica of the first quality is scarce," said he, and then he asked if I ...
— The Jucklins - A Novel • Opie Read

... weariness, these deserted quays, that terrace on the bank of the river, whose balustrades permitted glimpses of the silhouettes of slender trees. He met no one. Upon the Place de la Concorde, still wet with the scarce dried rain of this November night, as mild as an evening in spring, permeated by a warm mist, he looked for a moment at the Palace of the Corps Legislatif, gloomy-looking and outlining its roofs against the misty sky, whose gleams fell on the horizon with a bluish tint, ...
— His Excellency the Minister • Jules Claretie

... dreadful sight which met us as we entered the bedroom door. I have spoken of the impression of flabbiness which this man Blessington conveyed. As he dangled from the hook it was exaggerated and intensified until he was scarce human in his appearance. The neck was drawn out like a plucked chicken's, making the rest of him seem the more obese and unnatural by the contrast. He was clad only in his long night-dress, and his swollen ankles and ungainly feet protruded starkly from beneath it. Beside him stood a smart-looking ...
— Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

... from a door under the steps. She was a worthless creature, but where help was so scarce ladies could not afford to keep a scrupulous tariff ...
— Wau-bun - The Early Day in the Northwest • Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie

... flushed redly in the face with suppressed vexation as he saw that it was only a working man after all—"Some fellow wanting a debt collected," he decided, pushing away his papers with a rather irritated movement. However, in times when legal work was so scarce, it did not serve any good purpose to show anger, so, smoothing his ruffled brow, he forced a reluctantly condescending smile, as his office-boy, having ushered in the visitor, left ...
— The Treasure of Heaven - A Romance of Riches • Marie Corelli

... had to leave. As she had been sitting for some hours, and it was still light, she did not take a cab, and did not even walk straight home. She had heard of a bookseller in Soho who had for sale a certain scarce volume which she wanted; and it occurred to her that the present was a good opportunity to go in search of him. Now, there was hardly a capital in western Europe that she did not know better than London. She had an impression that Soho was a region of quiet streets and squares, like Bloomsbury. ...
— Cashel Byron's Profession • George Bernard Shaw

... Jenny brings him ben;[20] A strappan youth; he taks the mother's eye; Blithe Jenny sees the visit's no ill ta'en; The father cracks[21] of horses, pleughs, and kye. The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy, But, blate[22] an' laithfu',[23] scarce can weel behave; The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy What makes the youth sae bashfu' an' sae grave; Weel pleas'd to think her ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... two wounded in almost as many seconds, although all kept close as possible behind the shelter of the portal columns. And every second he was so engaged, at least a hundred guns, aimed by cruel trained eyes, that scarce ever before had missed whatever they sought to draw a bead on, were pouring out upon him a hell of lead that must have sounded to him like a flight ...
— The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier • Edgar Beecher Bronson

... tracked up the caribou, but I saw nothing. It was late when I got back. The boys were still fishing. They had caught about sixty more little trout. We felt as if we could eat all those fish in one meal, but seeing they were so scarce we had to try and save some for ...
— A Woman's Way Through Unknown Labrador • Mina Benson Hubbard (Mrs. Leonidas Hubbard, Junior)

... too scarce for the number of cattle, that fact should be officially ascertained," ...
— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White

... seemed to be captivated with the mere beauty of natural objects or even to catch any taste for the arrangement of his specimens. Within, the house was a kind of scientific confusion; in the garden the usual showy foreigners gave place to the most scarce flowers, especially to the rarer weeds, of Britain; and were scattered here and there only for preservation. In fact he neither loved order for its own sake nor had any very high opinion of that passion in others."[024] Lord Byron described Crabbe ...
— Flowers and Flower-Gardens • David Lester Richardson

... when above the surges They saw his crest appear, All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry, And even the ranks of Tuscany Could scarce forbear to ...
— Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year • E.C. Hartwell

... him and cast himself, weeping, at his feet and embraced him, saying, 'Father mine, you are dearly welcome.' Jamy, hearing first what the count said and after seeing what Perrot did, was overcome at once with such wonderment and such gladness that he scarce knew what he should do. However, after awhile, giving credence to the former's speech and sore ashamed for the injurious words he had whiles used to the hostler-count, he let himself fall, weeping, at his feet and humbly besought him pardon of every past affront, the which the count, having ...
— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio

... morocco case. There were several English works, among the rest the debates of the British Parliament, in a great number of volumes in folio (this is the Moniteur of England, a complete collection of which is so valuable and so scarce). By the side of this collection was to be seen a manuscript history of all the schemes for a descent upon that island, particularly that of Comte de Broglie. One of the presses of this cabinet was full of cardboard boxes, containing papers relative to the ...
— Memoirs Of The Court Of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France, Complete • Madame Campan

... the Indians disappeared, either dying off, or pursuing their game in the unexplored realms nearer the setting sun. Emigrants, from the East, in large numbers entered the State. Game, both in forest and meadow, became scarce; and the father of Kit Carson, finding settlers crowding him, actually rearing their huts within two or three miles of his cabin, abandoned his home to find more room in the still more ...
— Christopher Carson • John S. C. Abbott

... verse on a place where he was not well treated, as: 'Oranmore without merriment. A little town in scarce fields—a broken little town, with its back to the water, and with women ...
— Poets and Dreamers - Studies and translations from the Irish • Lady Augusta Gregory and Others

... off the trinket,—this locket of gold; An inch from the center my lead broke its way, Scarce grazing the picture, so fair to behold, Of a beautiful lady ...
— How the Flag Became Old Glory • Emma Look Scott

... the confectioner's cardboard box. He also puts in certain things that would have betrayed him, such as the knife, which must have slipped into the Seine. He wraps everything in the newspaper, ties it with the cord and fastens this cut-glass inkstand to it, as a make-weight. Then he makes himself scarce. A little later, the parcel falls into the waterman's barge. And there you are. Oof, it's hot work!... What do you say ...
— The Confessions of Arsene Lupin • Maurice Leblanc

... fell asleep and Tessibel laid him gently in the box prepared for him. Bed room was scarce in the huts of the fishermen and the small members of the family slept on rope beds, let down from the ceiling. But Myra's child, still too tender and always sick, slept in a box which his grandfather, "Satisfied" Longman, had made for him as ...
— Tess of the Storm Country • Grace Miller White

... issues: scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities; rural to urban migration; natural fresh water resources scarce and polluted in north, inaccessible and poor quality in center and extreme southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion; desertification; ...
— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... give him many thanks, he is courteous, That in suspecting kindly warneth us. We must not, as we used, flout openly, In scoffing riddles, his deformity; Nor at his board together being set, With words nor touch scarce looks adulterate. ...
— The Art of Letters • Robert Lynd

... parties had scarce entered the street, when Don Luis drew his sword, and called upon ...
— Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies • Washington Irving

... just returned from among the Catholic Algonquins in Canada, appeared among them and taught religion. He became also, in some respects, what Cadmus was of old, or Guess among the Cherokees—the first teacher of letters, among his people. As writing paper was then scarce, at least among the Indians, he taught them to write on birch bark, with sharpened sticks, instead of pens. This man is still living. He is now old, poor, almost entirely blind; and although having ...
— Old Mackinaw - The Fortress of the Lakes and its Surroundings • W. P. Strickland

... of the State, when capital was scarce and expensive public works were required for transporting the products of the State to market, public debts were probably unavoidable; but the time, I believe, has come when not only the State, but all of its subordinate divisions, ought ...
— The Life, Public Services and Select Speeches of Rutherford B. Hayes • James Quay Howard

... first sound in the song of love Scarce more than silence is, and yet a sound. Hands of invisible spirits touch the strings Of that mysterious instrument, the soul, And play the ...
— Barbara's Heritage - Young Americans Among the Old Italian Masters • Deristhe L. Hoyt

... own, monsieur; horses are scarce in these parts since the troubles began; but there is one in the stables which belongs to a poor ...
— My Sword's My Fortune - A Story of Old France • Herbert Hayens

... and then the gloomy news arrived. There had been a battle close to the very house of Bankton, and the king's soldiers had run away, and the brave Colonel Gardiner would not run, but fought to the very last, and alas for the Lady Frances!—he was stricken down and slain, scarce a mile from ...
— The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 • Various

... wife's name, she looked up, and in another moment she was placed in his arms. A communication was afterwards established between the wreck and the shore, and most of the crew landed before the gale again came down with redoubled fury. By the morning scarce a vestige of the ship remained. I had the pleasure of seeing Mrs Mason completely recovered two days afterwards, and thankful for ...
— James Braithwaite, the Supercargo - The Story of his Adventures Ashore and Afloat • W.H.G. Kingston

... dining on its brains. If there is a chance to kill several more, he will, like a butcher, hang his prey on a thorn, or in the crotch of a tree, and return for his favorite morsel when his hunt is over. After devouring the head of a bird he will leave the body, unless game is scarce. It is well they are not plentiful, or else our canary pets would be in danger, for a shrike will dart through an open window and attack birds in cages, even when members of the family are present. In one instance Mr. Brewer, the ornithologist, was sitting by a ...
— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe

... the sad time, when food was scarce, and most of the little people in the Green Forest and on the Green Meadow went hungry. But Mr. Mink didn't go hungry. Oh, my, no! You see, he had learned to catch fish, and so he had plenty to eat. When Old Mother Nature came to see how all the little people ...
— Mother West Wind "How" Stories • Thornton W. Burgess

... to take these persons, my friends?" asked the Colonel of the soldiers. "Judging from their appearance they are scarce able to walk, much less to march any distance, and the sun is nearly setting. Whoever they may be, or whatever they have done, they are our fellow-creatures, and in sore distress. They certainly were not flying from the country, for you all saw ...
— Roger Willoughby - A Story of the Times of Benbow • William H. G. Kingston

... during the necessary absence of my partner, Mr. Ramsden, I write with but halfe a penn, and can scarce perswade myselfe to send you so imperfect an account of your own and the publick affairs, as I needs must for want of his assistance; yet I had rather expose mine own defects to your good interpretation, then excuse thereby a totall neglect of my duty, ...
— Andrew Marvell • Augustine Birrell

... the sun's rays coming slantingly into the forest, and the warmth of the day past and gone. To Haward, riding at a gallop down the road that was scarce more than a bridle path, the rush of the cool air was grateful; the sharp striking of protruding twigs, the violent brushing aside of ...
— Audrey • Mary Johnston

... Baffin's Bay by the southerly gales of this season of the year, the broken floes seemed to have been seeking an outlet by the north-west. The winter was fast setting in, temperature falling thus early, and the birds every day more scarce. ...
— Stray Leaves from an Arctic Journal; • Sherard Osborn

... Our fixed eyes, our statue-like immobility, and our embarrassment were all alike, and lasted longer than a slow Pater-poster. The Princess spoke first. She said to the Prince in a very ill-assured voice, that she had not imagined him in such good company; smiling upon him and upon me. I had scarce time to smile also and to lower my eyes, before the ...
— The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete • Duc de Saint-Simon

... fire at us. Lead must be scarce. Now, that's the sort of thing that would make a wound that wouldn't ...
— Fix Bay'nets - The Regiment in the Hills • George Manville Fenn

... so scarce, there was no lack of trade for the lonely store in the woods. All through the summer there was a procession of birchbark canoes, filled with red men and white, coming down the river to the bay, laden with skins of wolf, ...
— A Countess from Canada - A Story of Life in the Backwoods • Bessie Marchant

... much surprised we were when, being come thither, we first heard, then found, they were become Quakers; a people we had no knowledge of, and a name we had till then scarce heard of. ...
— The History of Thomas Ellwood Written by Himself • Thomas Ellwood

... seven-days' guest, he came and went his ways, Walking the darkness garlanded with praise! Our seven-days' guest! Yet love that this man gained Others have scarce in three-score years attained. ...
— The Leicestershires beyond Baghdad • Edward John Thompson

... a storm of wild and perilous thoughts Hast thou stirr'd up within my tranquil breast! The darkest musings of my bosom thou Hast dragg'd to light, and placed them full before me; And what I scarce dared harbour e'en in thought, Thou speakest plainly out with fearless tongue. But hast thou weigh'd well what thou urgest thus? Discord will come, and the fierce clang of arms, To scare this valley's long unbroken peace, If we, a feeble shepherd race, shall dare Him to the fight, that lords ...
— Wilhelm Tell - Title: William Tell • Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

... spring, like the first settlers near hostile tribes, suffer the most casualties. A large portion of the nests of April and May are destroyed; their enemies have been many months without eggs and their appetites are keen for them. It is a time, too, when other food is scarce, and the crows and squirrels are hard put. But the second nests of June, and still more the nests of July and August, are seldom molested. It is rarely that the nest of the goldfinch ...
— Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other Papers • John Burroughs

... that vast heart beating—thou didst press Thy child so close, and lov'dst him unaware. Thy beauty gladdened him; yet he scarce less Had loved thee, had he never found ...
— The Poems of William Watson • William Watson

... sweeping the patient, half-drowned world, as he draws nigh the threshold of the waiting night. There was a great lump of orange color half melted up in the watery clouds of the west, but all was dreary and scarce consolable, up to the clear spaces above, stung with the steely stars that began to peep out of the blue hope of heaven. Thither Hester kept casting up her eyes as they walked, or rather somehow her eyes kept travelling thitherward of themselves, ...
— Weighed and Wanting • George MacDonald

... bolstered at the urns; The mob which reared the god the idol burns. To cling one moment nigh to power's crest, Then, earthward flung, sink to oblivion's rest Self-sought, 'midst careless acquiescence, seems Strange fate, e'en for a thing of schemes and dreams; But CAESAR's simulacrum, seen by day, Scarce envious CASCA's self would stoop to slay, And mounting mediocrity, once o'erthrown, Need fear—or hope—no dagger save ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101. October 10, 1891 • Various

... milder one than the preceding, food was less scarce, money more plentiful owing to the issue of assignats, public confidence greatly increased. But the tension between the King and the assembly did not relax; there was no serious attempt on either side to take advantage of the improved situation for effecting a reconciliation. ...
— The French Revolution - A Short History • R. M. Johnston

... "Money is scarce these days, but take this and it'll get you to Grandoken's. It's all I have, anyway. Now go along ...
— Rose O'Paradise • Grace Miller White

... great Master Will, and I do confess that the mock life I behold beyond the footlights often thrills me more than the real life I see this side of them. Once, I witnessed this play 'Richard III,' which we are now about to see, and it stirred me so I could scarce contain myself, though some do say that our Shakespeare has made the hunchback king blacker than he ...
— The Shadow of the North - A Story of Old New York and a Lost Campaign • Joseph A. Altsheler

... Further, had Burlman Reynolds taken the third thought, he might have known that even had the ghost of a slain hunter been encountered then and there, he should be found taking his nightly airing in a buckskin hunting-shirt, rather than in a winding-sheet; woven fabrics of all kinds being still very scarce and dear in the Paradise, Irish linen especially. Though the saying was often in his mouth, Burlman Reynolds did sometimes fail to bear in mind that "dare's reason in all things." But soon bethinking ...
— Burl • Morrison Heady

... short bus ride from post to town a trip into the past, where once again they were forced to endure the old patterns of segregation. Defense Department officials were aware, for example, that decent housing open to black servicemen was scarce. With limited income, under military orders, and often forced by circumstances to reside in the civilian community, black servicemen were, in the words of Robert S. McNamara, President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense, "singularly defenseless against this bigotry."[20-2] While the services had always ...
— Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 • Morris J. MacGregor Jr.

... fishermen. Our Governor therefore, sent away his long boat to coast the river downward as far as Point Comfort, and from thence to Cape Henry and Cape Charles, and all within the bay, which after a seven nights trial and travail, returned without any fruits of their labours, scarce getting so much fish ...
— The Bounty of the Chesapeake - Fishing in Colonial Virginia • James Wharton

... Francois, who is dyin' by inches of the spell Mohuto 's put on him. They're alike, these Kanakas; they're afraid of God and the devil, their own and the dam' missionary outfit, too. They've got them coming and going. No wonder they're getting so scarce you can't ...
— Mystic Isles of the South Seas. • Frederick O'Brien

... good-natured, lively guest. He always brought a keg of brandy with him; every one got a dram of it, or a coffee-cup full if glasses were scarce; even Joergen, though he was but a little fellow, was treated to a good thimbleful. That was to keep down the fat eels, said the eel-man; and then he never failed to tell a story he had often told before, and, when people laughed at it, he immediately told ...
— The Sand-Hills of Jutland • Hans Christian Andersen

... the mass, urged them on. It was not that they knew that much food and fresh troops awaited them in Smolensk, nor that they were told so (on the contrary their superior officers, and Napoleon himself, knew that provisions were scarce there), but because this alone could give them strength to move on and endure their present privations. So both those who knew and those who did not know deceived themselves, and pushed on to Smolensk as ...
— War and Peace • Leo Tolstoy

... he said earnestly, "I won't make any difference to you whatever happens. Barrin' a dhow or two Tajurrah-way, prizes are scarce in the Navy. Hence we never ...
— Traffics and Discoveries • Rudyard Kipling

... With winding cadences: now quick, now sunk In the low twitter'd song. The evening sky Reddens the distant main; catching the sail, Which slowly lessens, and with crimson hue Varying the sea-green wave; while the young moon, Scarce visible amid the warmer tints Of western splendours, slowly lifts her brow Modest and icy-lustred! O'er the plain The light dews rise, sprinkling the thistle's head, And hanging its clear drops on the wild waste Of broomy fragrance. Season of delight! Thou soul-expanding ...
— Beaux and Belles of England • Mary Robinson

... The travail is for such as bend their minds To reach th' Unmanifest That viewless path Shall scarce be trod by man bearing the flesh! But whereso any doeth all his deeds Renouncing self for Me, full of Me, fixed To serve only the Highest, night and day Musing on Me—him will I swiftly lift Forth from ...
— The Bhagavad-Gita • Sir Edwin Arnold

... art of agriculture. At first, the men assisted the women in what time they could spare from hunting; but as game became scarce and the food supply grown from the soil was found to be more certain, agriculture became man's vocation. Permanent home life commenced with the development of agriculture. As he became a farmer, ...
— The Farmer and His Community • Dwight Sanderson

... "born of the Lotus." "The Chinese,"[1] says the author of Rites and Ceremonies, "worship a Goddess whom they call Puzza, and of whom their priests give the following account;—they say that 'three nymphs came down from heaven to wash themselves in the river, but scarce had they gotten in the water before the herb lotus appeared on one of their garments, with its coral fruit upon it. They were surprised to think whence it could proceed; and the nymph upon whose garment it was could not resist the temptation of indulging ...
— The Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Volume 10

... one man as the train went off, and then we offered the fly-driver a shilling to take us back to the four cross-roads, and the grateful creature did it for nothing because, he said, the gent had tipped him something like. How scarce is true gratitude! So we cheered the driver too for this rare virtue, and then went home to talk about what we should do with our money. I cannot tell you all that we did with it, because money melts away 'like snow-wreaths in thaw-jean', as Denny says, ...
— The Wouldbegoods • E. Nesbit

... it's ever been done. This wheat came all the way from Australia and the United States, and now it's going back again. I'll tell you why. Wheat is scarce for export even in the States just now, so I'm taking a gambling chance on getting this to port before the first quantities come from the north. If I get in in time, ...
— Harrigan • Max Brand

... craft and a good sea-boat, I'll be bound, Master Fred," observed the sailor; "but she's too small by half, accordin' to my notions, and I have seen a few whalers in my day. Them bow-timbers, too, are scarce thick enough for goin' bump agin the ice o' Davis' Straits. Howsom'iver, I've seen worse craft drivin' a good trade in the ...
— The World of Ice • Robert Michael Ballantyne

... misguided zeal terms superstition; at my devotion I love to use the civility of my knee, my hat, my hand, with all those outward and sensible motions which may express or promote my invisible devotion. At the sight of a crucifix I can dispense with my hat, but scarce with the thought or memory of my Saviour. I could never hear the Ave-Mary bell without an oraison, or think it a sufficient warrant, because they erred in one circumstance, for me to err in all—that is, in ...
— The Worlds Greatest Books, Volume XIII. - Religion and Philosophy • Various

... of gold and feet of brass, On Maenalus bounds o'er th'unbending grass, To Dian sacred, this he's doom'd to bring, Unhurt into the presence of the King, Forbid to wound, how take a Stag so fleet? A twelvemonth's end scarce saw the task complete. ...
— The Twelve Labours of Hercules, Son of Jupiter & Alcmena • Anonymous

... the niggers, and said: "If any of youall are guilty of crime, you best get scarce, or pick out your tree, and get up it mighty sudden, 'cause the hounds haven't been fed lately." Every colored man picked a tree, and the hounds kept coming, finally showing up jumping the fence, and entering the woods, and the planter cut ...
— Peck's Bad Boy at the Circus • George W. Peck

... would be the necklace And all day long to fall and rise Upon her balmy bosom With her laughter or her sighs; And I would lie so light, so light, I scarce should be unclasped ...
— Twenty-One Days in India; and, the Teapot Series • George Robert Aberigh-Mackay

... scared," said Obed, turning to his two young companions. "I reckon he'll make himself scarce till we're ...
— In A New World - or, Among The Gold Fields Of Australia • Horatio Alger

... the illness of Penini. It was not, however, a long one, and early in October the whole party was able to return to Florence, where they remained throughout the winter and the following spring. Letters of this period are, however, scarce, and there is nothing particular to record concerning it. Since the publication of 'Aurora Leigh,' Mrs. Browning had been taking a holiday from poetical composition; indeed she never resumed it on a large scale, and published ...
— The Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume II • Elizabeth Barrett Browning

... of money they should straightway abandon the siege. Whereupon the barbarians, thinking that they could never take the city by force—for the Moors are not at all practised in the storming of walls—and at the same time not knowing that provisions were scarce for the besieged, welcomed their words, and when they had received three thousand pieces of gold, they abandoned the siege, and ...
— History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8) - The Vandalic War • Procopius

... commissioner sailed away in his boat with a select party. After enjoying the scenery and the summer breezes for a few hours, he cast his eyes along the shore in search of some romantic spot on which to land. Dead wood and dry sticks were extremely scarce, as the blacks used all they could find at their numerous camps. He was at length so fortunate as to observe a brown pile of decayed branches, and he said, "I think we had better land over there; that deadwood will make a good ...
— The Book of the Bush • George Dunderdale

... that James and Buckingham were interested witnesses of the cure; and the king "drolled with him about it (which he could do with a very good grace)." He said he divulged the secret to the Duke of Mayenne. After the Duke's death his surgeon sold it so that "now there is scarce any country barber but knows it." Why did not Digby try it on his wounded men at Scanderoon? His Discourse to the learned assembly is a curious medley of subtle observation and old wives' tales, set out in sober, orderly, one might almost say scientific, fashion. Roughly, ...
— The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened • Kenelm Digby

... Browns' work on the battery, for the shipbuilders had been closely associated with Fulton throughout the life of the project and were fully capable as ship designers. The work on the machinery was another matter, however, for men capable of working metal were scarce and few workmen could read plans. Fulton had some of the work done outside of his own plant, particularly the brass and copper work (mostly by John Youle's foundry). As a result, Fulton was required to move from plant to plant, keeping each ...
— Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran • Howard I. Chapelle

... translations from the authors of antiquity are so scarce, that Mr. Panizzi himself, a learned and miscellaneous reader, says he never saw them. I am willing to get the only advantage in my power over an Italian critic, by saying that I have had some of them in ...
— Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2 • Leigh Hunt

... had no intention of taking this young man into his confidence to the extent of explaining the actual character of the draught. "Unfortunately, however, to do as you suggest needs the preliminary expenditure of a good deal of money, which is a singularly scarce commodity with me. No, I am afraid that plan of yours will scarcely do; it is true that I am particularly anxious to make my fortune, and that, too, without a moment's loss of time, but I am afraid I shall have to hit upon some ...
— The Adventures of Dick Maitland - A Tale of Unknown Africa • Harry Collingwood



Words linked to "Scarce" :   quantity, meagerly, scarceness, meagre, hardly, just, meager, tight, scrimpy, stingy, scarcely, abundant, rare, scarcity



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