Adjective

(er)

Somewhat less than is needed in amplitude or extent.

* {{quote-book, year=1864–1865, author=Charles Dickens, title=

, passage=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.}}

* {{quote-book, year=1979, author=by B. Jonson, title=

, passage=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.}}

Sparing; niggardly; parsimonious.

* I. Watts.

In illustrating a point of difficulty, be not too scanty of words.

Adjective

(en adjective)

Miserly; excessively cheap.

The old man died a penurious wretch; eighty-thousand dollars in the mattress and as many holes in the roof.

Not bountiful; thin; scant.

The penurious stew would have been more accurately labelled broth.

Impoverished; wanting for money.

The poor penurious horde, naught in the cooking pot and naught in the belly.