short

[ shawrt ]

adjective

, short·er, short·est.

1. having little length; not long.
2. having little height; not tall:

   a short man.

3. extending or reaching only a little way:

   a short path.

   Antonyms: long

4. brief in duration; not extensive in time:

   a short wait.

   Antonyms: long

5. brief or concise, as writing.

   Synonyms: condensed, laconic, succinct, terse

6. rudely brief; abrupt; brusque:

   short behavior.

   Synonyms: testy, sharp, curt

7. low in amount; scanty:

   short rations.

   Synonyms: lacking, wanting, inadequate, deficient, poor

8. not reaching a point, mark, target, or the like; not long enough or far enough.
9. below the standard in extent, quantity, duration, etc.:

   short measure.

10. having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often followed by in or on ):

    He was short in experience.

11. being below a necessary or desired level; lacking:

    The office is short due to winter colds and flu.

12. Cooking.
    1. (of pastry and the like) crisp and flaky; breaking or crumbling readily from being made with a large proportion of butter or other shortening.
    2. (of dough) containing a relatively large amount of shortening.

    Synonyms: crumbly

13. (of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle.
14. (of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back.

    Synonyms: brachycephalic

15. Stock Exchange.
    1. not possessing at the time of sale commodities or stocks that one sells.
    2. noting or pertaining to a sale of commodities or stocks that the seller does not possess, depending for profit on a decline in prices:

       You can cover your short transactions by purchasing securities in the distribution at the reduced price.

16. Phonetics.
    1. lasting a relatively short time:

       “Bit” has a shorter vowel-sound than “bid” or “bead.”

    2. belonging to a class of sounds considered as usually shorter in duration than another class, as the vowel of but as compared to that of bought, and in many languages serving as a distinctive feature of phonemes, as the a in German Bann in contrast with the ah in Bahn, or the t in Italian fato in contrast with the tt in fatto ( long ).
    3. having the sound of the English vowels in bat, bet, bit, hot, but, and put, historically descended from vowels that were short in duration.
17. Prosody.
    1. (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.
    2. unstressed ( def 1 ).
18. (of an alcoholic drink) small:

    a short drink.

19. Chiefly British. (of whiskey) undiluted; straight.
20. Ceramics. (of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled.
21. Ropemaking. hard ( def 39 ).

adverb

1. abruptly or suddenly:

   to stop short.

2. briefly; curtly.
3. on the near side of an intended or particular point:

   The arrow landed short.

4. Baseball.
   1. with the hands higher on the handle of the bat than usual:

      He held the bat short and flied out.

   2. in a fielding position closer to home plate than usual.

noun

1. something that is short.
2. that which is deficient or lacking.
3. Usually the short. the sum and substance of a matter; gist: long ¹( def 39 ).

   Here's the short of it: they broke up two weeks before the wedding.

4. shorts,
   1. trousers, knee-length or shorter.
   2. short pants worn by men as an undergarment.
   3. knee breeches, formerly worn by men.
   4. Finance. short-term bonds.
   5. Mining. crushed ore failing to pass through a given screen, thus being of a larger given size than a specific grade. Compare fine ¹( def 31a ).
   6. remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes.
5. a size of garment for men who are shorter than average:

   He wears a 42 short.

6. a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size.
7. Military. a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target.
8. Electricity. short circuit ( def ).
9. Prosody. a short sound or syllable.
10. Baseball. shortstop ( def 1a ).
11. Movies. short subject ( def ).
12. Finance. short seller.
13. a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency.
14. Chiefly British. a small drink of straight whiskey; shot.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause a short circuit in.
2. to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange.
3. Stock Exchange. to sell (stocks, commodities, etc.) that one does not possess, with the intent of making a profit by purchasing them later at a lower price:

   He speculates on bubbles by shorting stocks that are overpriced, overhyped, and overdue for a slide.

verb (used without object)

1. to short-circuit.

short

/ ʃɔːt /

adjective

1. of little length; not long
2. of little height; not tall
3. of limited duration
4. not meeting a requirement; deficient

   the number of places laid at the table was short by four

5. postpositive; often foll by of or on lacking (in) or needful (of)

   I'm always short of money

6. concise; succinct
7. lacking in the power of retentiveness

   a short memory

8. abrupt to the point of rudeness

   the salesgirl was very short with him

9. finance
   1. not possessing the securities or commodities that have been sold under contract and therefore obliged to make a purchase before the delivery date
   2. of or relating to such sales, which depend on falling prices for profit
10. phonetics
    1. denoting a vowel of relatively brief temporal duration
    2. classified as short, as distinguished from other vowels. Thus in English ( ɪ ) in bin, though of longer duration than ( iː ) in beat, is nevertheless regarded as a short vowel
    3. (in popular usage) denoting the qualities of the five English vowels represented orthographically in the words pat, pet, pit, pot, put, and putt
11. prosody
    1. denoting a vowel that is phonetically short or a syllable containing such a vowel. In classical verse short vowels are followed by one consonant only or sometimes one consonant plus a following l or r
    2. (of a vowel or syllable in verse that is not quantitative) not carrying emphasis or accent; unstressed
12. See shortcrust pastry
    (of pastry) crumbly in texture See also shortcrust pastry
13. (of a drink of spirits) undiluted; neat
14. (of betting odds) almost even
15. have someone by the short and curlies informal.
    have someone by the short and curlies to have (someone) completely in one's power
16. in short supply
    in short supply scarce
17. short and sweet
    short and sweet unexpectedly brief
18. short for
    short for an abbreviation for

adverb

1. abruptly

   to stop short

2. briefly or concisely
3. rudely or curtly
4. finance without possessing the securities or commodities at the time of their contractual sale

   to sell short

5. caught short
   caught shorttaken short having a sudden need to urinate or defecate
6. fall short
   fall short
   1. to prove inadequate
   2. often foll by of to fail to reach or measure up to (a standard)
7. go short
   go short not to have a sufficient amount, etc
8. short of
   short of except

   nothing short of a miracle can save him now

noun

1. anything that is short
2. a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer
3. phonetics prosody a short vowel or syllable
4. finance
   1. a short contract or sale
   2. a short seller
5. a short film, usually of a factual nature
6. See short circuit
   See short circuit
7. for short informal.
   for short as an abbreviation

   he is called Jim for short

8. in short
   in short
   1. as a summary
   2. in a few words

verb

1. See short circuit
   See short circuit

Derived Forms

• ˈshortness, noun

Other Words From

• short·ness noun
• o·ver·short adjective
• o·ver·short·ness noun
• un·short adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of short¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English adjective schort, Old English sceort; cognate with Old High German scurz “short,” Old Norse skortr “shortness, scarcity”

Word History and Origins

Origin of short¹

Old English scort; related to Old Norse skortr a lack, skera to cut, Old High German scurz short

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. cut short, to end abruptly; terminate:

   Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside.

2. fall / come short,
   1. to fail to reach a particular standard.
   2. to prove insufficient; be lacking:

      Her funds fell short, and she had to wire home for help.

3. for short, by way of abbreviation:

   Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short.

4. in short,
   1. in summary.
   2. in few words; in brief:

      In short, this has been rather a disappointing day.

5. run short, to be in insufficient supply:

   My patience is running short.

6. sell short,
   1. Stock Exchange. to sell stocks or the like without having them in one's actual possession at the time of the sale.
   2. to disparage or underestimate:

      Don't sell Tom short; he's really an excellent engineer.

7. short for, being a shorter form of; abbreviated to:

   “Phone” is short for “telephone.”

8. short of,
   1. less than; inferior to.
   2. inadequately supplied with (money, food, etc.).
   3. without going to the length of; failing of; excluding:

      Short of murder, there is nothing he wouldn't have tried to get what he wanted.

9. make short work of. work ( def 53 ).
10. short and sweet. short and sweet ( def ).

More idioms and phrases containing short

• by the short hairs
• caught short
• cut short
• fall short
• for short
• in brief (short)
• in short order
• in short supply
• in the long (short) run
• life is too short
• long and short of it
• long (short) haul
• make a long story short
• make short work of
• nothing short of
• run short
• sell short
• stop short

Synonym Study

Short, brief are opposed to long, and indicate slight extent or duration. Short may imply duration but is also applied to physical distance and certain purely spatial relations: a short journey. Brief refers especially to duration of time: brief intervals.

Example Sentences

In short, he moved closer to Pelosi’s position after a monthlong showdown.

From Washington Post

Antebellum, the film, has its roots in a short story the duo wrote in October 2017.

From Fortune

When a QED calculation leads to an infinite sum, cut it short.

From Quanta Magazine

Rapid short-term cooling following the Chicxulub impact at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.

From Nautilus

For best results, cut a short section of FireCord and remove the red strand.

From Popular-Science

As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.

From The Daily Beast

The precision it took to craft such a cohesive, wholly compelling work over 12 years is nothing short of remarkable.

From The Daily Beast

In short, fatherhood gets little attention in policy debates.

From The Daily Beast

But the qualities Mario Cuomo brought to public life—compassion, integrity, commitment to principle—remain in short supply today.

From The Daily Beast

In short, we found ways to couch messages of failure or inadequacy.

From The Daily Beast

Sometimes the stems are quite bare; on other occasions they are partly branched; in any case the branches are short.

From Project Gutenberg

Many of their cannon balls that fell far short of us, were collected and returned to them with powerful effect.

From Project Gutenberg

He was tall and of familiar figure, and the firelight was playing in the tossed curls of his short, fair hair.

From Project Gutenberg

They are ovoid in shape, and lie in pairs, end to end, often forming short chains.

From Project Gutenberg

And since he was a very fast runner—for short distances—he met Grandfather Mole just as the old chap was crawling up the bank.

From Project Gutenberg