scarce (redirected from make (oneself) scarce)

scarce  (skârs)

adj. scarc·er, scarc·est

1. Insufficient to meet a demand or requirement; short in supply: Fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought.

2. Hard to find; absent or rare: Steel pennies are scarce now except in coin shops.

adv.

Barely or hardly; scarcely.

Idiom:

make (oneself) scarce Informal

1. To stay away; be absent or elusive.

2. To depart, especially quickly or furtively; abscond.

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[Middle English scars, from Old French scars, from Vulgar Latin *excarpsus, narrow, cramped, from past participle of *excarpere, to pluck out, alteration of Latin excerpere, to pick out; see excerpt.]

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scarceness n.

Word History: The words scarce and excerpt illustrate how two words with a common ancestor can diverge from one another in form while passing from one language to another over the centuries. Both words can be traced back to the Latin word excerpere (past participle stem excerpt-), meaning "to pick out," "to pick out mentally," and "to select a passage for quotation." The path is clear and direct from excerpt- to our noun excerpt (first recorded before 1638) and verb (first recorded around 1536), a past participle usage already being recorded in the 15th century. A more tangled path leads to our word scarce. It is assumed that side by side with Latin excerpere existed the Vulgar Latin form *excarpere. *Excarpsus, an adjective formed with the past participle of *excarpere in Vulgar Latin, meant "narrow, cramped," and from this Vulgar Latin form came the Old French word échars, "insufficient, cramped," and "stingy." The Old French word, which existed in a variety of forms, including scars and the chiefly Old North French form escarse, was borrowed into Middle English as scarse, being first recorded in a manuscript written around 1300.

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scarce

Adjective

1. insufficient to meet the demand: scarce water resources

2. not common; rarely found

3. make oneself scarce Informal to go away

Adverb

Archaic or literary scarcely [Old French scars]

Thesaurus

Adj.	1.	scarce - deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand; "fresh vegetables were scarce during the drought" meager, meagerly, meagre, scrimpy, stingy - deficient in amount or quality or extent; "meager resources"; "meager fare" abundant - present in great quantity; "an abundant supply of water"
Adv.	1.	scarce - only a very short time before; "they could barely hear the speaker"; "we hardly knew them"; "just missed being hit"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats barely, hardly, scarcely, just

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scarce

adjective 1. in short supply, wanting, insufficient, deficient, at a premium, thin on the ground << OPPOSITE plentiful

adjective 2. rare, few, unusual, uncommon, few and far between, infrequent, thin on the ground << OPPOSITE common

Translations

scarce [skɛəs] adj → escaso

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scarce [skɛəs] adj → rare, peu abondant(e);

to make o.s. scarce (inf) → se sauver

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scarce [skɛəs] adj → knapp;

to make o.s. scarce (inf) → verschwinden

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scarce [skɛəs] adj → scarso/a; [copy, edition] → raro/a

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scarce

adj scarce [skeəs]

not many or enough in number Paintings by this artist are very scarce; Food is scarce because of the drought. skaars نادِر، غَيْر مُتَوَفِّر недостатъчен vzácný, omezený sjælden; knap knapp λιγοστός, σπάνιος escaso, poco común/frecuente haruldane, vähe نادر vähäinen, vähissä rare נָדִיר दुर्लभ oskudan, rijedak kevés; ritka sedikit sjaldgæfur; af skornum skammti raro 少ない 부족한 negausus, nepakankamas rets; nepietiekams sukar didapati schaars sjelden; knapp, snau rzadki, niewystarczający raro rar редкий; скудный vzácny, obmedzený redek oskudan otillräcklig, knapp, sällsynt ไม่มาก; ไม่พอ kıt, az 珍貴的，缺乏的 убогий, недостатній قلیل، ناکافی khan hiếm 珍贵的，缺乏的

adv scarcely

1 only just; not quite Speak louder please – I can scarcely hear you; scarcely enough money to live on. skaars بالكاد، بِصُعوبَه едва stěží, sotva knapt; utilstrækkeligt kaum μόλις, σχεδόν καθόλου apenas vaevalt حيلي كم tuskin à peine בְּקוֹשִׁי नहीं के बराबर, बहुत ही कम rijetko, jedva alig tidak cukup naumlega appena, a malapena ほとんど～ない 겨우, 간신히 vos tik tikko; gandrīz tidak berapa nauwelijks nesten ikke, knapt ledwo mal abia едва; почти не sotva komaj jedva knappt แทบจะไม่ ... denemez, daha (henüz) ...-mıştı ki 幾乎不 ледве بمشکل، بہت کم chỉ vừa mới 几乎不

2 used to suggest that something is unreasonable You can scarcely expect me to work when I'm ill. skaars بصورَةٍ غَيْر مَعْقولَه едва ли sotva næppe wohl kaum δύσκολα ¡no esperarás/esperará...! vaevalt كمياب tuskin sûrement (pas) כְּלָל וּכלָל לא अभी अभी, शायद ही teško bajosan tidak mungkin varla a malapena とても～ない 아마[] ...아니다 vargiai diezvai tidak patut nauwelijks neppe, knapt nie bardzo, chyba nie parece que não me... cu greu едва ли, вряд ли ťažko težko teško knappast, näppeligen, inte gärna ไม่ค่อย; แทบไม่ได้ herhalde ... değil 決不 навряд чи بالکل نہیں chắc chắn là không 决不

n scarcity

(a) lack or shortage a scarcity of work/jobs; times of scarcity. skaarsheid نُدْرَه недостиг nedostatek knaphed die Knappheit έλλειψη escasez nappus, puudus كميابي niukkuus rareté מַחֲסוֹר कमी, अभाव, विरलता nestašica hiány kekurangan skortur scarsità, penuria 不足 부족, 결핍 stygius retums; nepietiekamība; trūkums kekurangan schaarste mangel (på), knapphet; dyrtid brak, niedobór escassez raritate недостаток, дефицит nedostatok pomanjkanje oskudnost brist, knapphet, sällsynthet ความขาดแคลน kıtlık 缺乏 недостача, нестача قلت، کمی sự khan hiếm 缺乏

make oneself scarce

to run away or stay away, especially in order to avoid trouble As soon as the police arrived, he made himself scarce. jou skaars maak يَتَوارى، يَغيب عن الأعْيُن изпарявам се zmizet gøre sig usynlig; stikke af sich dünn machen γίνομαι άφαντος largarse, esfumarse kõrvale hoidma جيم شدن pysytellä poissa s'esquiver לְהֵיעָלֵם भाग जाना, चंपत हो जाना pobjeći, nestati elillan, lelép menyingkir láta ekki sjá sig, láta sig hverfa andarsene, rendersi irreperibile 引っ込んでいる 슬쩍 떠나다 dingti, išnykti pazust; aizmukt angkat kaki zich uit de voeten maken stikke av; holde seg borte zniknąć escafeder-se a o şterge улизнуть, испариться zmiznúť pobrisati jo izgubiti se smita, dunsta [] ทันทีที่ tüymek, sıvışmak 溜走 ретируватися; не потрапляти на очі چپکے سے غائب ہو جانا tránh người khác 溜走