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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

More often than not historically, above-average real rates have been followed in fairly short order by lower nominal rates.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026

And at the centre of it all was poor 22-year-old Kinsky, selected ahead of previous first-choice Guglielmo Vicario, but substituted in short order after two slips gifted goals to Marcos Llorente and Julian Alvarez.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026

This is the stuff that usually ends in short order with a resignation, either of the member’s own volition or at the speaker’s insistence.

From Slate • Feb. 28, 2026

Every decade or economic cycle, or so it seems, brings another prognostication, each of which ends up cycling from scary to silly in short order.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

In short order, the US Army, which maintains thousands of troops in South Korea, forbade its personnel from flying with the airline.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell