Definition of "scanty"

scanty

/ˈskænti/

adjective
comparative scantier, superlative scantiest
1. Somewhat less than is needed in amplitude or extent.
  Quotations
  Present on the table, one scanty pot of tea, one scanty loaf, two scanty pats of butter, two scanty rashers of bacon, two pitiful eggs, and an abundance of handsome china bought a secondhand bargain.
  1864–1865, Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
  Traditions older than paleoarctic, as scanty as the evidence may be, show clearly that colonization of Alberta and even as far north as southern Alaska came from the south.
  1979, by B. Jonson, Amerigine
2. Sparing; niggardly; parsimonious; stingy.
  Quotations
  In illustrating a point of difficulty, be not too scanty of words.
  1725, Isaac Watts, Logick: Or, The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after Truth, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Clark and Richard Hett, […], Emanuel Matthews, […], and Richard Ford, […], published 1726