Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Scarce \Scarce\, Scarcely \Scarce"ly\, adv.
   1. With difficulty; hardly; scantly; barely; but just.

            With a scarce well-lighted flame.     --Milton.

            The eldest scarcely five year was of age. --Chaucer.

            Slowly she sails, and scarcely stems the tides.
                                                  --Dryden.

            He had scarcely finished, when the laborer arrived
            who had been sent for my ransom.      --W. Irving.

   2. Frugally; penuriously. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Source : WordNet®

scarcely
     adv 1: by a small margin; "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 [syn: {barely}, {hardly},
             {just}, {scarce}]
     2: almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly
        more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the
        emergency generator" [syn: {hardly}]