scantling means Not plentiful; small; scanty. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 85 out of 100.
Why this word is great
SCANTLING — [Adjective, Noun] As an adjective: small or scanty; as a noun: a small timber beam used in construction, or the prescribed dimensional standard for a piece of building material. Its etymology reveals its core function: an alteration of Middle English scantilon, from Old French escantillon (“sample, pattern, gauge”), with the suffix -ling. Unlike a “stud”—which specifically denotes a vertical wall member—or a “modicum”—which refers to a small abstract quantity—a scantling is both a measured physical piece and the standard that defines it. It is the rough-sawn timber in a ship’s hull, the precise notation on a faded blueprint, and the meager, calibrated ration of flour for a week’s voyage—the humble, measured fragment from which all grand structures and marginal survivals are quietly built.
adj
- Not plentiful; small; scanty.“Heav'ns Glorie to atchieve, what scantling Span Hath the frail Pilgrimage of Man!”
noun
- The set size or dimension of a piece of timber, stone etc., or materials used to build ships or aircraft.
- A small portion, a scant amount.“For one may have particular knowledge of the nature of one river, and experience of the qualitie of one fountaine, that in other things knowes no more than another man: who neverthelesse to publish this little scantling, will undertake to write all of the Physickes.”
- A small, upright beam of timber used in construction, especially less than five inches square.
- Timber in the form of small beams and pieces.“Victor, with hammer and nails and scraps of scantling, was patching a corner of one of the galleries.”
- A rough draught; a crude sketch or outline.
- A frame for casks to lie upon; a trestle.“These casks should be placed upon scantling or scaffolding , and not upon the ground in the cellar”