Here is an interesting word from The Valley of Fear, in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes uses this word when he describes Professor Moriarty to Scotland Yard Detective MacDonald. Moriarty is the genius behind London’s underworld, and Holmes knows this, but he cannot prove it in court, so he must wait for the professor to make a mistake.
Exigous – scanty, meager, small
Usage: “Of course I have other reasons for thinking [Moriarty’s wealth was obtained illegally] – dozens of exiguous threads which lead vaguely up towards the centre of the web where the poisonous, motionless creature is lurking.”