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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

short order short-order

But in short order, Cohn’s New York Magazine article was adapted into “Saturday Night Fever,” a blockbuster film and one of the bestselling albums of all time.

From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2026

While Meta has brought in a lot of users in short order, it is less clear how many of them trust Meta with access to other accounts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

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

If the economy stays sluggish or gets worse and inflation falls, those could look like good deals in short order.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026

In short order, the Salomon Brothers trading floor gave birth to small markets in bonds funded by all sorts of strange stuff: credit card receivables, aircraft leases, auto loans, health club dues.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

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

He had worked briefly as an automotive parts salesman, a janitor, a car wash attendant, and a short-order cook at the local A&W fast-food franchise.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

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