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• short order
  short order

  noun

  a dish or serving of food that is quickly prepared upon request at a lunch counter.
• short-order
  short-order

  adjective

  of, relating to, or specializing in short orders.

short order

¹ American  

noun

1. a dish or serving of food that is quickly prepared upon request at a lunch counter.

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short-order ² American  

[shawrt-awr-der] / ˈʃɔrtˌɔr dər /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or specializing in short orders.

   a short-order cook; short-order diner.

2. performed or supplied quickly.

   They obtained a short-order divorce decree.

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short order British  

noun

1. 1. food that is easily and quickly prepared

   2. ( as modifier )

      short-order counter

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short order Idioms  

1. Quickly; see in short order .

2. An order of food to be prepared and served quickly, as in It's just a diner, serving short orders exclusively . This expression, dating from about 1890, gave rise to the adjective short-order , used not only in short-order cook , a cook specializing in short orders, but in other terms such as short-order divorce , a divorce quickly obtained owing to liberal divorce laws.

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Etymology

Origin of short order¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Origin of short-order²

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

short order short-order

In short order, wrote California historian Kevin Starr, the city was deprived “of its central landmark,” a river that was “possessed of its own special sort of greatness.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

In short order, she finds, “the hum had returned.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Investors have calculated that rational decision-making by world leaders will prevail in short order.

From Barron's ● May 1, 2026

"And I think it'll be done in short order."

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

Uprooting the girls on short order and enrolling them in new schools would be trying for all of them.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Guests can build their own plates, and I don’t have to spend the evening playing short-order cook.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

In 1966, Duncan was working as a short-order cook at the Sahara, making 400 salads an hour, when she slipped on spilled grease, severely injuring her shoulder, hip and back.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Sole-Smith tries not to be a short-order cook.

From New York Times ● Apr. 21, 2024

In 1984, the budding tree scientist packed his 12-speed bicycle and left Chicago on a Greyhound bus to spend the summer as a short-order cook in California’s Sequoia National Park.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2023

They were tired of constantly looking for new carhops and short-order cooks — who were in great demand — as the old ones left for higher-paying jobs elsewhere.

From "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" by Eric Schlosser