Meaning

adjective less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so

verb work hastily or carelessly; deal with inadequately and superficially

verb limit in quality or quantity

originAdjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0