- 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; brusque: 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.
- having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often followed by in or on): He was short in experience.
- being below a necessary or desired level; lacking: The office is short due to winter colds and flu.
- Cooking.
- (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.
- (of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle.
- (of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back.
- 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: You can cover your short transactions by purchasing securities in the distribution at the reduced price.
- 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.
- Prosody.
- (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.
- unstressed (def. 1).
- (of an alcoholic drink) small: a short drink.
- (of whiskey) undiluted; straight.
- (of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled.
- hard (def. 39).
- abruptly or suddenly: to stop short.
- briefly; curtly.
- on the near side of an intended or particular point: The arrow landed short.
- 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.
- something that is short.
- that which is deficient or lacking.
- the sum and substance of a matter; gist: Here's the short of it: they broke up two weeks before the wedding.
- shorts,
- trousers, knee-length or shorter.
- short pants worn by men as an undergarment.
- knee breeches, formerly worn by men.
- short-term bonds.
- crushed ore failing to pass through a given screen, thus being of a larger given size than a specific grade.
- remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes.
- a size of garment for men who are shorter than average: He wears a 42 short.
- a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size.
- a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target.
- short circuit.
- a short sound or syllable.
- shortstop (def. 1a).
- short subject.
- short seller.
- a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency.
- a small drink of straight whiskey; shot.
- to cause a short circuit in.
- to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange.
- to sell (stocks, commodities, etc.) that one does not possess, with the intent of making a profit by purchasing them later at a lower price: He speculates on bubbles by shorting stocks that are overpriced, overhyped, and overdue for a slide.
- to short-circuit.
- to end abruptly; terminate: Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside.
- fall / come 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.
- by way of abbreviation: Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short.
- in short,
- in summary.
- in few words; in brief: In short, this has been rather a disappointing day.
- work (def. 53).
- to be in insufficient supply: My patience is running short.
- sell short,
- 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.
- See entry at short and sweet.
- being a shorter form of; abbreviated to: “Phone” is short for “telephone.”
- 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.
- of little length; not long
- of little height; not tall
- of limited duration
- not meeting a requirement; deficient
- lacking (in) or needful (of)
- concise; succinct
- lacking in the power of retentiveness
- abrupt to the point of rudeness
- finance
- not possessing the securities or commodities that have been sold under contract and therefore obliged to make a purchase before the delivery date
- of or relating to such sales, which depend on falling prices for profit
- phonetics
- denoting a vowel of relatively brief temporal duration
- classified as short, as distinguished from other vowels. Thus in English (ɪ) in bin, though of longer duration than (iː) in beat, is nevertheless regarded as a short vowel
- (in popular usage) denoting the qualities of the five English vowels represented orthographically in the words pat, pet, pit, pot, put, and putt
- prosody
- 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
- (of a vowel or syllable in verse that is not quantitative) not carrying emphasis or accent; unstressed
- (of pastry) crumbly in texture
- (of a drink of spirits) undiluted; neat
- (of betting odds) almost even
- to have (someone) completely in one's power
- scarce
- unexpectedly brief
- an abbreviation for
- abruptly
- briefly or concisely
- rudely or curtly
- without possessing the securities or commodities at the time of their contractual sale
- having a sudden need to urinate or defecate
- fall short
- to prove inadequate
- to fail to reach or measure up to (a standard)
- not to have a sufficient amount, etc
- except
- anything that is short
- a drink of spirits as opposed to a long drink such as beer
- a short vowel or syllable
- finance
- a short contract or sale
- a short seller
- a short film, usually of a factual nature
- See short circuit (def. 1)
- as an abbreviation
- in short
- as a summary
- in a few words