Hypertext Webster Gateway: "dearth"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Dearth
a scarcity of provisions (1 Kings 17). There were frequent
dearths in Palestine. In the days of Abram there was a "famine
in the land" (Gen. 12:10), so also in the days of Jacob (47:4,
13). We read also of dearths in the time of the judges (Ruth
1:1), and of the kings (2 Sam. 21:1; 1 Kings 18:2; 2 Kings 4:38;
8:1).
In New Testament times there was an extensive famine in
Palestine (Acts 11:28) in the fourth year of the reign of the
emperor Claudius (A.D. 44 and 45).
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Dearth \Dearth\, n. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See {Dear}.]
Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack
of food on account of failure of crops; famine.
There came a dearth over all the land of Egypt. --Acts
vii. 11.
He with her press'd, she faint with dearth. --Shak.
Dearth of plot, and narrowness of imagination.
--Dryden.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
dearth
n 1: a severe shortage (especially a shortage of food) [syn: {famine},
{shortage}]
2: an insufficient quantity or number [syn: {paucity}]
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