caught short

Idioms  

1. Found to be lacking something one needs, especially money, as in Can you pay the check? I seem to be caught short. This idiom uses short in the sense of “lacking money,” a usage dating from the early 1500s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caught short

Those caught short, like India and Australia, might overcompensate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

Speculators get caught short and are forced to sell some of their assets at fire-sale prices in order to raise cash to cover their debts.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 21, 2025

Family friend Olive Brown says: "Every December I do have a wee sad moment, thinking he's not here. All that potential, enthusiasm and ability got caught short."

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2025

Airlines say they also have staffed up since being caught short when travel began to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring and summer of 2022.

From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2024

For a girl who’d spent her whole life perfecting the art of arguing—with my brothers, my mother, my mule, and until just a few months ago with my daddy—suddenly I was caught short.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan