Shorter
noun
Definition for shorter (2 of 2)
adjective, short·er, short·est.
- (of pastry and the like) crisp and flaky; breaking or crumbling readily from being made with a large proportion of butter or other shortening.
- (of dough) containing a relatively large amount of shortening.
- not possessing at the time of sale commodities or stocks that one sells.
- noting or pertaining to a sale of commodities or stocks that the seller does not possess, depending for profit on a decline in prices.
- lasting a relatively short time: “Bit” has a shorter vowel-sound than “bid” or “bead.”
- 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 (opposed to long).
- having the sound of the English vowels in bat, bet, bit, hot, but, and put, historically descended from vowels that were short in duration.
- (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.
- unstressed(def 1).
adverb
- with the hands higher on the handle of the bat than usual: He held the bat short and flied out.
- in a fielding position closer to home plate than usual.
noun
- trousers, knee-length or shorter.
- short pants worn by men as an undergarment.
- knee breeches, formerly worn by men.
- Finance. short-term bonds.
- Mining. crushed ore failing to pass through a given screen, thus being of a larger given size than a specific grade.Compare fine1(def 28a).
- remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes.
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
Origin of short
SYNONYMS FOR short
OTHER WORDS FROM short
short·ness, noun o·ver·short, adjective o·ver·short·ness, noun un·short, adjectiveExample sentences from the Web for shorter
“Running is just that much more efficient in expending more calories in a shorter amount of time,” Williams says.
The Raptor carries six AMRAAMs and two shorter range AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles inside its weapons bays.
Pentagon Worries That Russia Can Now Outshoot U.S. Stealth Jets |Dave Majumdar |December 4, 2014 |DAILY BEASTFor a shorter introduction to Richardson, read Journey to Paradise: Short Stories and Autobiographical Sketches.
These Female Contemporaries Weren’t Afraid of Virginia Woolf |Louisa Treger |November 20, 2014 |DAILY BEASTAs soon as Jaco [Pastorius] told me that Wayne [Shorter] would be there, I was on it right away!
I will always be 5'11", and older and shorter than you imagine."
A struggle under such circumstances must be a terrible thing, and the shorter it can be made the better.
Miss Caprice |St. George RathborneLike Laura, aged fourteen, I had taken a shorter voyage on a poorer ship, and I had decided that this would be different.
The Ship Dwellers |Albert Bigelow PaineThe head is not larger than that of the workers; but the tongue is shorter and more slender, with straighter maxill.
An Introduction to Entomology: Vol. II (of 4) |William KirbyIf Russia is well disposed, she will consent to a smaller Bulgaria and to a shorter occupation.
Lord Lyons: A Record of British Diplomacy, Vol. 2 of 2 |Thomas Wodehouse Legh NewtonSternum differs from that of C. clangula by having the notch lower, more faint behind and shorter in front.
Extinct Birds |Walter Rothschild
British Dictionary definitions for shorter
adjective
- not possessing the securities or commodities that have been sold under contract and therefore obliged to make a purchase before the delivery date
- of or relating to such sales, which depend on falling prices for profit
- denoting a vowel of relatively brief temporal duration
- 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
- (in popular usage) denoting the qualities of the five English vowels represented orthographically in the words pat, pet, pit, pot, put, and putt
- 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
- (of a vowel or syllable in verse that is not quantitative) not carrying emphasis or accent; unstressed
adverb
- to prove inadequate
- (often foll by of) to fail to reach or measure up to (a standard)
noun
- a short contract or sale
- a short seller
- as a summary
- in a few words
verb
Derived forms of short
shortness, nounWord Origin for short
Idioms and Phrases with shorter
In addition to the idioms beginning with short
- short and sweet
- short end of the stick, the
- short for
- short haul
- short notice, on
- short of
- short order
- short run
- short shrift, give
also see:
- 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