adj. & adv.
adj. 1 (usu. predic.) (esp. of food, money, etc.) insufficient for the demand; scanty. 2 hard to find; rare.
adv. archaic or literary scarcely. make oneself scarce colloq. keep out of the way; surreptitiously disappear. scarceness n.
[ ME f. AF & ONF (e)scars, OF eschars f. L excerpere: see EXCERPT ]