English

Prepositional phrase

in short

1. As a summary; as a shortened version of what has been told or what would have been told.
   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, ch. 19:

     [H]e told me I did not treat him as if he was my husband, or talk of my children as if I was a mother; and, in short, that I did not deserve to be used as a wife.

   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch. 10:

     Mr Snagsby has dealt in all sorts of blank forms of legal process; in skins and rolls of parchment; in paper — foolscap, brief, draft, brown, white, whitey-brown, and blotting; in stamps; in office-quills, pens, ink, India-rubber, pounce, pins, pencils, sealing-wax, and wafers; in red tape, and green ferret; in pocket-books, almanacs, diaries, and law lists; in string boxes, rulers, inkstands — glass and leaden, penknives, scissors, bodkins, and other small office-cutlery; in short, in articles too numerous to mention.

   • 1915, T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock":

     I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,

     And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,

     And in short, I was afraid.

   • 2008 Dec. 4, Kate Pickert, "A Brief History of Recounts," Time (retrieved 15 August 2013):

     Most political experts expect the Minnesota election to be decided in the courts or even in the state senate. In short, it's a mess.

Translations

Anagrams

• hornist