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adjective

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.

10.

having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often followed 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.

(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.

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.

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.

16.

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.

17.

Prosody.

(of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.

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 ).

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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.

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.

00:10

Short is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

26.

something that is short.

27.

that which is deficient or lacking.

28.

the sum and substance of a matter; gist (usually preceded by the ).

29.

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.

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/fall 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.

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,

in summary.

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,

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.

50.

short and sweet,

pleasantly brief.

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,

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.

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

Related forms

short·ness, noun

o·ver·short, adjective

o·ver·short·ness, noun

un·short, adjective

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 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.

Antonyms
3, 4. long.

Link To short

Collins

World English Dictionary

short (ʃɔːt)

—*adj*
1.	of little length; not long
2.	of little height; not tall
3.	of limited duration
4.	not meeting a requirement; deficient: the number of places laid at the table was short by four
5.	(postpositive; often foll by of or on) lacking (in) or needful (of): I'm always short of money
6.	concise; succinct
7.	lacking in the power of retentiveness: a short memory
8.	abrupt to the point of rudeness: the salesgirl was very short with him
9.	finance
	a. not possessing the securities or commodities that have been sold under contract and therefore obliged to make a purchase before the delivery date
	b. of or relating to such sales, which depend on falling prices for profit
10.	phonetics
	a. denoting a vowel of relatively brief temporal duration
	b. classified as short, as distinguished from other vowels. Thus in English () in bin, though of longer duration than () in beat, is nevertheless regarded as a short vowel
	c. (in popular usage) denoting the qualities of the five English vowels represented orthographically in the words pat, pet, pit, pot, put, and putt
11.	prosody
	a. 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
	b. (of a vowel or syllable in verse that is not quantitative) not carrying emphasis or accent; unstressed
12.	See also shortcrust pastry (of pastry) crumbly in texture
13.	(of a drink of spirits) undiluted; neat
14.	(of betting odds) almost even
15.	informal have someone by the short and curlies to have (someone) completely in one's power
16.	in short supply scarce
17.	short and sweet unexpectedly brief
18.	short for an abbreviation for

—*adv*
19.	abruptly: to stop short
20.	briefly or concisely
21.	rudely or curtly
22.	finance without possessing the securities or commodities at the time of their contractual sale: to sell short
23.	caught short, taken short having a sudden need to urinate or defecate
24.	fall short
	a. to prove inadequate
	b. (often foll by of) to fail to reach or measure up to (a standard)
25.	go short not to have a sufficient amount, etc
26.	short of except: nothing short of a miracle can save him now

—n
27.	anything that is short
28.	a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer
29.	phonetics, prosody a short vowel or syllable
30.	finance
	a. a short contract or sale
	b. a short seller
31.	a short film, usually of a factual nature
32.	See short circuit
33.	informal for short as an abbreviation: he is called Jim for short
34.	in short
	a. as a summary
	b. in a few words

—vb
35.	See short circuit

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

'shortness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

short

O.E. sceort, scort, probably from P.Gmc. *skurta- (cf. O.N. skorta "to be short of," skort "shortness;" O.H.G. scurz "short"), from PIE base *sker- "to cut," with notion of "something cut off" (cf. Skt. krdhuh "shortened, maimed, small;" L. curtus "short," cordus "late-born," originally "stunted in growth;"

O.C.S. kratuku, Rus. korotkij "short;" Lith. skurstu "to be stunted," skardus "steep;" O.Ir. cert "small," M.Ir. corr "stunted, dwarfish"). Meaning "rude" is attested from 1390. Shorty "short person" is recorded from 1888. To fall short is from archery. Shortage is attested from 1868. Short cut is from 1568. Short fuse in fig. sense of "quick temper" first attested 1968. Short story first recorded 1877. Short list dates from 1927. To make short work of is first attested 1577. Phrase short and sweet is from 1539.

short

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.

Slang Dictionary

short definition

n.
a small drink of hard liquor or of beer. : I'll have a short and a pack of cigarettes.
mod.
having to do with a single drink of undiluted liquor. : I'll take mine short, innkeeper.
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.
tv.
to give someone less of something than was agreed upon. : They shorted us on the last order, so we switched suppliers.
n.
a car. (Streets.) : Man, that's some short you got!
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.
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

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

short

In addition to the idioms beginning with short, 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.