Dearth

Dearth - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

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).

Dearth - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

DEARTH, n. derth.

1. Scarcity; as a dearth of corn.

2. Want; need; famine;

3. Barrenness; sterility; as a dearth of plot.