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Webster 1913 Edition

Short

Short

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Shorter
;
sup
erl.
Shortest
.]
[OE.
short
,
schort
, AS.
scort
,
sceort
; akin to OHG.
scurz
, Icel.
skorta
to be short of, to lack, and perhaps to E.
shear
, v. t. Cf.
Shirt
.]
1.
Not long; having brief length or linear extension;
as, a
short
distance; a
short
piece of timber; a
short
flight.
The bed is
shorter
than that a man can stretch himself on it.
Isa. xxviii. 20.
2.
Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted;
as,
short
breath
.
The life so
short
, the craft so long to learn.
Chaucer.
To
short
absense I could yield.
Milton.
3.
Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty;
as, a
short
supply of provisions, or of water
.
4.
Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the ordinary, standard; – usually with of;
as, to be
short
of money
.
We shall be
short
in our provision.
Shakespeare
5.
Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a measure or standard;
as, an account which is
short
of the trith
.
6.
Not distant in time; near at hand.
Marinell was sore offended
That his departure thence should be so
short
.
Spenser.
He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a
short
day.
Clarendon.
7.
Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive; narrow; not tenacious, as memory.
Their own
short
understandings reach
No farther than the present.
Rowe.
8.
Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or equivalent; less (than); – with of.
Hardly anything
short
of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
Landor.
9.
Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant;
as, he gave a
short
answer to the question
.
10.
(Cookery)
Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth; crisp;
as,
short
pastry
.
11.
(Metal)
Brittle.
☞ Metals that are brittle when hot are called [GREEK]ot-short; as, cast iron may be hot-short, owing to the presence of sulphur. Those that are brittle when cold are called cold-short; as, cast iron may be cold-short, on account of the presence of phosphorus.
12.
(Stock Exchange)
Engaging or engaged to deliver what is not possessed;
as,
short
contracts; to be
short
of stock. See
The shorts
, under
Short
,
Noun.
, and
To sell short
, under
Short
,
adv.
☞ In mercantile transactions, a note or bill is sometimes made payable at short sight, that is, in a little time after being presented to the payer.
13.
(Phon.)
Not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in utterance; – opposed to
long
, and applied to vowels or to syllables. In English, the long and short of the same letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the short sound of a in pate, etc. See
Quantity
, and Guide to Pronunciation, §§22, 30.
☞ Short is much used with participles to form numerous self-explaining compounds; as, short-armed, short-billed, short-fingered, short-haired, short-necked, short-sleeved, short-tailed, short-winged, short-wooled, etc.
At short notice
,
in a brief time; promptly.
–
Short rib
(Anat.)
,
one of the false ribs.
–
Short suit
(Whist)
,
any suit having only three cards, or less than three.
R. A. Proctor.
–
To come short
,
To cut short
,
To fall short
,
etc. See under
Come
,
Cut
, etc.

Short

,
Noun.
1.
A summary account.
The
short
and the long is, our play is preferred.
Shakespeare
2.
pl.
The part of milled grain sifted out which is next finer than the bran.
The first remove above bran is
shorts
.
Halliwell.
3.
pl.
Short, inferior hemp.
4.
pl.
Breeches; shortclothes.
[Slang]
Dickens.
5.
(Phonetics)
A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
If we compare the nearest conventional
shorts
and longs in English, as in “bit” and “beat,” “not” and “naught,” we find that the short vowels are generally wide, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well. Hence, originally short vowels can be lengthened and yet kept quite distinct from the original longs.
H. Sweet.
In short
,
in few words; in brief; briefly.
–
The long and the short
,
the whole; a brief summing up.
–
The shorts
(Stock Exchange)
,
those who are unsupplied with stocks which they contracted to deliver.

Short

,
adv.
In a short manner; briefly; limitedly; abruptly; quickly;
as, to stop
short
in one’s course; to turn
short
.
He was taken up very
short
, and adjudged corrigible for such presumptuous language.
Howell.
To sell short
(Stock Exchange)
,
to sell, for future delivery, what the party selling does not own, but hopes to buy at a lower rate.

Short

,
Verb.
T.
[AS.
sceortian
.]
To shorten.
[Obs.]

Short

,
Verb.
I.
To fail; to decrease.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Short

SHORT

,
Adj.
[L. curtus.]
1. Not long; not having great length or extension; as a short distance; a short ferry; a short flight; a short piece of timber.
The bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it. Is. 28.
2. Not extended in time; not of long duration.
The triumphing of the wicked is short. Job 20.
3. Not of usual or suffifient length, reach or extent.
Weak though I am of limb, and short of sight. Pope.
4. Not of long duration; repeated at small intervals of time; as short breath.
5. Not of adequate extent or quantity; not reaching the point demanded, desired or expected; as a quantity short of our expectations.
Not therefore am I short
Of knowing what I ought. Milton.
6. Deficient; defective; imperfect. This account is short of the truth.
7. Not adequate; insufficient; scanty; as, provisions are short; a short allowance of water for the voyage.
8. Not sufficiently supplied; scantily furnished.
the English were inferior in number, and grew short in their provisions.

Definition 2024

Short

Short

See also: short

English

Proper noun

Short

  1. A surname​.

Derived terms

short

short

See also: Short

English

Adjective

short ‎(comparative shorter, superlative shortest)

  1. Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
  2. (of a person) Of comparatively little height.
  3. Having little duration; opposite of long.
    • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 172:
      Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
    Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it's been at least twenty minutes long.
  4. (followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
    “Phone” is short for “telephone” and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".
  5. (cricket, Of a fielder or fielding position) that is relatively close to the batsman.
  6. (cricket, Of a ball) that bounced relatively far from the batsman.
  7. (golf, of an approach shot or putt) that falls short of the green or the hole.
  8. (of pastries and metals) Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of too much shortening. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust.)
    • 2013, Historic Heston (ISBN 1620402343), page 122:
      I chose to interpret the references to butter and sugar as indicating that a short pastry was required. (Later editions suggest a biscuit-like texture.)
  9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.
    He gave a short answer to the question.
  10. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
    a short supply of provisions
  11. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking.
    to be short of money
    The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
  12. Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
    an account which is short of the truth
    • Landor
      Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
  13. (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
    • Edmund Spenser
      Marinell was sore offended / That his departure thence should be so short.
    • Clarendon
      He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
      But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.
  14. In a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
    I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.

Usage notes

  • (having a small distance between ends or edges): Short is often used in the positive vertical dimension and used as is shallow in the negative vertical dimension; in the horizontal dimension narrow is more commonly used.

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (having a small distance between ends or edges): tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long
  • (of a person, of comparatively little height): tall
  • (having little duration): long
  • (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position, relatively close to the batsman): long

Translations

Adverb

short ‎(not comparable)

  1. Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
    They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
    He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.
    The boss got a message and cut the meeting short.
  2. Unawares.
    The recent developments at work caught them short.
  3. Without achieving a goal or requirement.
    His speech fell short of what was expected.
  4. (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
  5. (finance) With a negative ownership position.
    We went short most finance companies in July.

Noun

short ‎(plural shorts)

  1. A short circuit.
  2. A short film.
    • 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
      Preceded by a Simpsons short shot in 3-D—perhaps the only thing more superfluous than a fourth Ice Age movie—Ice Age: Continental Drift finds a retinue of vaguely contemporaneous animals coping with life in the post-Pangaea age.
  3. Used to indicate a short-length version of a size
    38 short suits fit me right off the rack.
    Do you have that size in a short.
  4. (baseball) A shortstop.
    Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.
  5. (finance) A short seller.
    The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.
  6. (finance) A short sale.
    He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
  7. A summary account.
    • Shakespeare
      The short and the long is, our play is preferred.
  8. (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
    • H. Sweet
      If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in "bit" and "beat", "not" and "naught", we find that the short vowels are generally wide, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well.
  9. (programming) An integer variable shorter than normal integers; usually two bytes long.

See also

Translations

Verb

short ‎(third-person singular simple present shorts, present participle shorting, simple past and past participle shorted)

  1. (transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).
  2. (intransitive) Of an electrical circuit, to short circuit.
  3. (transitive) To shortchange.
  4. (transitive) To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.
    This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
  5. (transitive, business) To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.
  6. (obsolete) To shorten.

Translations

Preposition

short

  1. Deficient in.
    We are short a few men on the second shift.
    He's short common sense.
  2. (finance) Having a negative position in.
    I don't want to be short the market going into the weekend.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: different · care · war · #390: short · able · five · need

Anagrams

Albanian

Etymology

From Latin sors, sortem.

Noun

short m

  1. drawing (action where the outcome is selected by chance using a draw)
  2. sweepstakes

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʃɔʁt/

Noun

short m ‎(plural shorts)

  1. shorts, short trousers (UK)
    Avec un pantalon, j'ai moins froid aux jambes qu'avec un short.
    “With trousers on, my legs are not as cold as with shorts on.”

Italian

Etymology

English

Noun

short m ‎(invariable)

  1. short (short film etc)

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

  1. shorts (pants that do not go lower than the knees)

Synonyms

Spanish

Noun

short m ‎(plural shorts)

  1. shorts

Etymology

From Middle English short, schort, from Old English sċeort, scort ‎(“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz ‎(“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-. Cognate with shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort ‎(“short”), French court, German kurz (from Old High German kurz), Old High German scurz ‎(“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta ‎(“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt ‎(“short, brief”), Latin curtus ‎(“shortened, incomplete”), Russian коро́ткий ‎(korótkij, “short, brief”). More at shirt.

Pronunciation

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