short
[ shawrt ]
/ ʃɔrt /
adjective, short·er, short·est.
having little length; not long.
having little height; not tall: a short man.
extending or reaching only a little way: a short path.
brief in duration; not extensive in time: a short wait.
brief or concise, as writing.
rudely brief; abrupt; hurting: short behavior.
low in amount; scanty: short rations.
not reaching a point, mark, target, or the like; not long enough or far enough.
below the standard in extent, quantity, duration, etc.: short measure.
having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often followed by in or on): He was short in experience.
being below a necessary or desired level; lacking: The office is short due to winter colds and flu.
Cookery.
- (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.
(of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle.
(of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back.
Stock Exchange.
- 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.
Phonetics.
- 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.
Prosody.
- (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.
- unstressed(def 1).
(of an alcoholic drink) small: a short drink.
Chiefly British.
(of whiskey) undiluted; straight.
Ceramics.
(of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled.
Ropemaking.
hard(def 39).
adverb
abruptly or suddenly: to stop short.
briefly; curtly.
on the near side of an intended or particular point: The arrow landed short.
Baseball.
- 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
something that is short.
that which is deficient or lacking.
the sum and substance of a matter; gist (usually preceded by the).
shorts,
- 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.
a size of garment for men who are shorter than average: He wears a 42 short.
a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size.
Military.
a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target.
Electricity.
short circuit.
Prosody.
a short sound or syllable.
Baseball.
shortstop(def 1).
Movies.
short subject.
Finance.
short seller.
a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency.
Chiefly British.
a small drink of straight whiskey; shot.
verb (used with object)
to cause a short circuit in.
to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange.
verb (used without object)
to short-circuit.
Idioms for short
- to fail to reach a particular standard.
- to prove insufficient; be lacking: Her funds fell short, and she had to wire home for help.
cut short,
to end abruptly; terminate: Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside.
fall/come short,
- in summary.
- in few words; in brief: In short, this has been rather a disappointing day.
- Stock Exchange. to sell stocks or the like without having them in one's actual possession at the time of the sale.
- to disparage or underestimate: Don't sell Tom short; he's really an excellent engineer.
- pleasantly brief.
- pertinent: We're in a hurry, so make it short and sweet.
- less than; inferior to.
- inadequately supplied with (money, food, etc.).
- without going to the length of; failing of; excluding: Short of murder, there is nothing he wouldn't have tried to get what he wanted.
for short,
by way of abbreviation: Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short.
in short,
make short work of.
work(def 53).
run short,
to be in insufficient supply: My patience is running short.
sell short,
short and sweet,
short for,
being a shorter form of; abbreviated to: “Phone” is short for “telephone.”
short of,
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, adjectiveWords nearby short
shoreward,
shoreweed,
shorewood,
shoring,
shorn,
short,
short account,
short and sweet,
short ballot,
short bill,
short bone
Words related to shortness
Example sentences from the Web for shortness
Common symptoms of MERS include fever, chills, cough, and shortness of breath.
Is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) the Next SARS? |Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Tej Azad |May 3, 2014 |DAILY BEAST"I had shortness of breath and heart palpitations occasionally, and I was extremely fatigued," she said.
Both these books have, as has been said, the merit of shortness.
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 |George SaintsburyAlthough the precaution was unnecessary, this shortness of memory was often encouraged by bills of various denominations.
The Skylark of Space |Edward Elmer Smith and Lee Hawkins Garby
The shortness and simplicity of Messahalahs tract on the sphere made it very popular.
The Hun's fire was now slackening, and in spite of the shortness of the range, decidedly erratic.
Billy Barcroft, R.N.A.S. |Percy F. WestermanThe blessedness of death is praised, the sorrows and shortness of life dwelt upon.
The Book of Hallowe'en |Ruth Edna Kelley
British Dictionary definitions for shortness
short
/ (ʃɔːt) /
adjective
of little length; not long
of little height; not tall
of limited duration
not meeting a requirement; deficient
the number of places laid at the table was short by four
(postpositive; often foll by of or on)
lacking (in) or needful (of)
I'm always short of money
concise; succinct
lacking in the power of retentiveness
a short memory
abrupt to the point of rudeness
the salesgirl was very short with him
finance
- 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
phonetics
- 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
prosody
- 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
(of pastry) crumbly in texture
See also shortcrust pastry
(of a drink of spirits) undiluted; neat
(of betting odds) almost even
have someone by the short and curlies informal
to have (someone) completely in one's power
in short supply
scarce
short and sweet
unexpectedly brief
short for
an abbreviation for
adverb
abruptly
to stop short
briefly or concisely
rudely or curtly
finance
without possessing the securities or commodities at the time of their contractual sale
to sell short
caught short or taken short
having a sudden need to urinate or defecate
fall short
- to prove inadequate
- (often foll by of) to fail to reach or measure up to (a standard)
go short
not to have a sufficient amount, etc
short of
except
nothing short of a miracle can save him now
noun
anything that is short
a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer
phonetics prosody
a short vowel or syllable
finance
- a short contract or sale
- a short seller
a short film, usually of a factual nature
for short informal
as an abbreviation
he is called Jim for short
in short
- as a summary
- in a few words
verb
See also
shorts
Derived forms of short
shortness, nounWord 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 shortness
short
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