Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Popular Searches
Synonyms
Nearby Words

come short

 - 5 dictionary results

short

  [shawrt] adjective, -er, -est, adverb, noun, verb
Use come short in a Sentence
–adjective
1. having little length; not long.
2. having little height; not tall: a short man.
3. extending or reaching only a little way: a short path.
4. brief in duration; not extensive in time: a short wait.
5. brief or concise, as writing.
6. rudely brief; abrupt; hurting: short behavior.
7. low in amount; scanty: short rations.
8. not reaching a point, mark, target, or the like; not long enough or far enough.
9. below the standard in extent, quantity, duration, etc.: short measure.
10. having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often fol. by in or on): He was short in experience.
11. being below a necessary or desired level; lacking: The office is short due to winter colds and flu.
12. Cookery.
a. (of pastry and the like) crisp and flaky; breaking or crumbling readily from being made with a large proportion of butter or other shortening.
b. (of dough) containing a relatively large amount of shortening.
13. (of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle.
14. (of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back.
15. Stock Exchange.
a. not possessing at the time of sale commodities or stocks that one sells.
b. noting or pertaining to a sale of commodities or stocks that the seller does not possess, depending for profit on a decline in prices.
16. Phonetics.
a. lasting a relatively short time: “Bit” has a shorter vowel-sound than “bid” or “bead.”
b. 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 ).
c. having the sound of the English vowels in bat, bet, bit, hot, but, and put, historically descended from vowels that were short in duration.
17. Prosody.
a. (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.
b. unstressed.
18. (of an alcoholic drink) small: a short drink.
19. Chiefly British. (of whiskey) undiluted; straight.
20. Ceramics. (of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled.
21. Ropemaking. hard (def. 39).
–adverb
22. abruptly or suddenly: to stop short.
23. briefly; curtly.
24. on the near side of an intended or particular point: The arrow landed short.
25. Baseball.
a. with the hands higher on the handle of the bat than usual: He held the bat short and flied out.
b. in a fielding position closer to home plate than usual.
–noun
26. something that is short.
27. that which is deficient or lacking.
28. the sum and substance of a matter; gist (usually prec. by the).
29. shorts,
a. trousers, knee-length or shorter.
b. short pants worn by men as an undergarment.
c. knee breeches, formerly worn by men.
d. Finance. short-term bonds.
e. Mining. crushed ore failing to pass through a given screen, thus being of a larger given size than a specific grade. Compare fine (def. 29a).
f. remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes.
30. a size of garment for men who are shorter than average: He wears a 42 short.
31. a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size.
32. Military. a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target.
33. Electricity. short circuit.
34. Prosody. a short sound or syllable.
35. Baseball. shortstop (def. 1).
36. Movies. short subject.
37. Finance. short seller.
38. a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency.
39. Chiefly British. a small drink of straight whiskey; shot.
–verb (used with object)
40. to cause a short circuit in.
41. to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange.
–verb (used without object)
42. to short-circuit.
—Idioms
43. come or fall short,
a. to fail to reach a particular standard.
b. to prove insufficient; be lacking: Her funds fell short, and she had to wire home for help.
44. cut short, to end abruptly; terminate: Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside.
45. for short, by way of abbreviation: Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short.
46. in short,
a. in summary.
b. in few words; in brief: In short, this has been rather a disappointing day.
47. make short work of. work (def. 52).
48. run short, to be in insufficient supply: My patience is running short.
49. sell short,
a. Stock Exchange. to sell stocks or the like without having them in one's actual possession at the time of the sale.
b. to disparage or underestimate: Don't sell Tom short; he's really an excellent engineer.
50. short and sweet,
a. pleasantly brief.
b. pertinent: We're in a hurry, so make it short and sweet.
51. short for, being a shorter form of; abbreviated to: “Phone” is short for “telephone.”
52. short of,
a. less than; inferior to.
b. inadequately supplied with (money, food, etc.).
c. 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.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME schort (adj.), OE sceort; c. OHG scurz short, ON skortr shortness, scarcity

Related forms:
shortness, noun

Synonyms:
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 esp. 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.

Antonyms:
3, 4. long.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To come short
Slang Dictionary
short

  1. n.
    a small drink of hard liquor or of beer. : I'll have a short and a pack of cigarettes.
  2. mod.
    having to do with a single drink of undiluted liquor. : I'll take mine short, innkeeper.
  3. n.
    a purchase of drugs that counts or weighs out less than the amount agreed upon. : You gave me a short. Fix it now, or this thing goes off accidentally in your ear.
  4. tv.
    to give someone less of something than was agreed upon. : They shorted us on the last order, so we switched suppliers.
  5. n.
    a car. (Streets.) : Man, that's some short you got!
  6. n.
    the sale of borrowed shares of stock; a short sale. (Securities markets.) : There is a lot of covering of shorts this week. After that the market is in for a steady decline.
  7. tv.
    to sell borrowed stock. (Securities markets.) : The way the deficit is running, I'd short the whole market.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

short  (n.)
Meaning "electrical short circuit" first recorded 1854 (the verbal phrase short circuit is recorded from 1867). Slang meaning "car" is attested from 1897; originally "street car," so called based on street cars (or the rides taken in them) being "shorter" than railroad cars.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Financial Dictionary

short

See short position 1, 2short sale.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: short
Function: adverb
: by or as if by a short sale short>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see come short on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us:
Partner Sites:
Ask AnswersEviteExpediaHotelsHotwireLife123LiveDailyMy Way