short

adjective

1》 of a small length or duration.

    ↘(of a ball in sport) travelling only a small distance before bouncing.

2》 relatively small in extent.

3》 (of a person) small in height.

4》 (short of/on) not having enough of (something); lacking or deficient in.

    ↘in insufficient supply.

5》 (of a person) terse; uncivil.

6》 Phonetics (of a vowel) categorized as short with regard to quality and length (e.g. in standard British English the vowel ʊ in good).

    ↘Prosody (of a vowel or syllable) having the lesser of the two recognized durations.

7》 (of odds or a chance) reflecting or representing a high level of probability.

8》 Stock Exchange (of shares or other assets) sold in advance of being acquired.

    ↘(of a security) maturing at a relatively early date.

9》 (of pastry) containing a high proportion of fat to flour and therefore crumbly.

    ↘(of clay) having poor plasticity.

adverb (in sport) at, to, or over a short distance.

↘not as far as the point aimed at.

noun

1》 Brit. informal a strong alcoholic drink, especially spirits, served in small measures.

2》 a short film as opposed to a feature film.

3》 a short sound, vowel, or syllable.

4》 a short circuit.

5》 (shorts) Stock Exchange short-dated stocks.

6》 (shorts) a mixture of bran and coarse flour.

verb short-circuit.

Phrases

be caught (or Brit. taken) short

1》 be put at a disadvantage.

2》 Brit. informal urgently need to urinate or defecate.

a brick short of a load (or two sandwiches short of a picnic, etc.) informal (of a person) stupid or crazy.

bring (or pull) someone up short cause someone to stop or pause abruptly.

for short as an abbreviation or nickname.

get (or have) someone by the short and curlies informal have complete control of a person.

go short not have enough of something, especially food.

in short to sum up; briefly.

in short order chiefly N. Amer. immediately; rapidly.

in the short run (or term) in the near future.

in short supply (of a commodity) scarce.

make short work of accomplish, consume, or destroy quickly.

short and sweet brief and pleasant.

short for an abbreviation or nickname for.

short of

1》 less than.

2》 not reaching as far as.

3》 without going so far as (some extreme action).

short of breath panting; short-winded.

stop short stop suddenly or abruptly.

Derivatives

shortish adjective

shortness noun

Origin

OE sceort, of Gmc origin; related to shirt, skirt.