Idioms for short

Origin of short

before 900; Middle English schort (adj.), Old English sceort; cognate with Old High German scurz short, Old Norse skortr shortness, scarcity

SYNONYMS FOR short

4 Short, brief are opposed to long, and indicate slight extent or duration. Short may imply duration but is also applied to physical distance and certain purely spatial relations: a short journey. Brief refers especially to duration of time: brief intervals.
5 terse, succinct, laconic, condensed.
6 curt, sharp, testy.
7 poor, deficient, inadequate, wanting, lacking.
12 crumbly.
14 brachycephalic.

OTHER WORDS FROM short

short·ness, noun o·ver·short, adjective o·ver·short·ness, noun un·short, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for short and sweet

See also shorts

Derived forms of short

shortness, noun

Word Origin for short

Old English scort; related to Old Norse skortr a lack, skera to cut, Old High German scurz short

Idioms and Phrases with short and sweet (1 of 2)

short and sweet

Satisfyingly brief and pertinent, as in When we asked about the coming merger, the chairman's answer was short and sweet—it wasn't going to happen. This expression was already proverbial in 1539, when it appeared in Richard Taverner's translation of Erasmus's Adagia. Over the years it was occasionally amplified, as in James Kelly's Scottish Proverbs (1721): “Better short and sweet than long and lax.”

Idioms and Phrases with short and sweet (2 of 2)

short