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.
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.
Extending or traveling not far or not far enough: a short toss.
Lasting a brief time: a short holiday.
Appearing to pass quickly: finished the job in a few short months.
Rudely brief; abrupt.
Easily provoked; irascible.
Not owning the stocks or commodities one is selling in anticipation of a fall in prices.
Of or relating to a short sale.
Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky: a short pie crust.
Not ductile; brittle: short iron.
Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."
Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ā) in pat or (ŏŏ) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.
Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.
Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
Not lengthy; succinct: short and to the point.
Rudely brief; abrupt.
Easily provoked; irascible.
Not owning the stocks or commodities one is selling in anticipation of a fall in prices.
Of or relating to a short sale.
Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky: a short pie crust.
Not ductile; brittle: short iron.
Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."
Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ā) in pat or (ŏŏ) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.
Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.
Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
Inadequate; insufficient: oil in short supply; were short on experience.
Lacking in length or amount: a board that is short two inches.
Lacking in breadth or scope: a short view of the problem.
Deficient in retentiveness: a short memory.
Not owning the stocks or commodities one is selling in anticipation of a fall in prices.
Of or relating to a short sale.
Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky: a short pie crust.
Not ductile; brittle: short iron.
Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."
Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ā) in pat or (ŏŏ) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.
Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.
Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky: a short pie crust.
Not ductile; brittle: short iron.
Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."
Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ā) in pat or (ŏŏ) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.
Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.
Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."
Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ā) in pat or (ŏŏ) in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.
Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.
Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.
Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.
Slang Close to the end of a tour of military duty.
adv.
shorter, shortest
Abruptly; quickly: stop short.
In a rude or curt manner.
At a point before a given boundary, limit, or goal: a missile that landed short of the target.
At a disadvantage: We were caught short by the sudden storm.
Without owning what one is selling: selling a commodity short.
n.
Something short, as:
Linguistics A short syllable, vowel, or consonant.
A brief film; a short subject.
A size of clothing less long than the average for that size.
shorts Short trousers extending to the knee or above.
shorts Men's undershorts.
A short sale.
One that sells short.
A short circuit.
A malfunction caused by a short circuit.
A short sale.
One that sells short.
A short circuit.
A malfunction caused by a short circuit.
shorts A byproduct of wheat processing that consists of germ, bran, and coarse meal or flour.
shorts Clippings or trimmings that remain as byproducts in various manufacturing processes, often used to make an inferior variety of the product.
A short circuit.
A malfunction caused by a short circuit.
Baseball A shortstop.
v.
short·ed, short·ing, shorts
v.
tr.
To cause a short circuit in.
Informal To give (one) less than one is entitled to; shortchange.
To sell (a stock that one does not own) in anticipation of making a profit when its price falls; make a short sale.
To sell unowned stock in (the stock market) in anticipation of making a profit when prices fall.
v.
intr. To short-circuit.
[Middle English, from Old English sceort, scort; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots.] short'ness n.
Shor·ter (shôr'tər) American jazz saxophonist who was a leading figure in the hard bop and jazz rock movements.
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
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.
[shawr-ter] 
