short

 

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short

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From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.

(with the horse-hoarse merger) enPR: shôrt

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃɔːt/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃoɹt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (St. Louis) IPA^(key): [ʃɑɹt]
• (DE) IPA^(key): /ˈʃoːrt/, /ˈʃoːɻt/
• (General Australian, New Zealand, Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ʃoːt/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

(without the horse–hoarse merger)

• (rhotic) IPA^(key): /ʃɔɹt/
• (non-rhotic) IPA^(key): /ʃɔːt/
• (Dublin, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɒːɹt/

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 small height.
3. Having little duration.

   Antonym: long

   Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.

   • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎^[1], 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.

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) bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
7. (golf, of an approach shot or putt) that falls short of the green or the hole.
8. (gambling) Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
9. (baking, of pastries, metallurgy) Brittle, crumbly. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening, hot short, cold-short.)
   • 2013, Heston Blumenthal, Historic Heston, →ISBN, 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.)

10. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.

    He gave a short answer to the question.

    • 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:

      “We are short to-night!” cries the woman, with a propitiatory laugh. “Short and snappish we are! […] ”

11. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.

    a short supply of provisions

12. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.

    to be short of money

    I'd lend you the cash but I'm a little short at present.

    The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.

13. Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.

    an account which is short of the truth

    • 1829, Walter Savage Landor, “The Emperor Alexander and Capo D'Istria”, in Imaginary Conversations, volume IV:

      […] the people are worn down with taxes, and hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.

14. (colloquial) Undiluted; neat.
    • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

      “There ain’t no drain of nothing short handy, is there?” said the Chicken, generally. “This here sluicing night is hard lines to a man as lives on his condition.”
      Captain Cuttle proffered a glass of rum […]

    • 2003, Linda Chaikin, Desert Rose:

      Delance raised his beer and watched Hoadly throw down another swig of hard stuff. "Take it short if you want to make it over the mountain tonight."

15. (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:

      Marinell was sore offended / That his departure thence should be so short.

    • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

      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, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

      But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.

17. (finance) Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.

    Coordinate term: long

    short position

    I'm short in General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.

18. (by extension) Doubtful of, skeptical of.
19. (finance, dated) Of money: given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.

    Antonym: long

    • 1909, James Blyth, The member for Easterby, page 296:

      He pulled a cheque-book from his pocket, and drew for two hundred thousand pounds. “I'll take it short,” he said […]

• (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.

• (having a small distance between ends or edges): low, narrow, slim, shallow
• (of a person, of comparatively little height): little, pint-sized, petite, titchy (slang)
• (having little duration): brief, concise
• (constituting an abbreviation (for)): an abbreviation of, a short form of

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

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.

short (plural shorts)

1. A short circuit.
2. A short film.
   • 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, AV Club, Ice Age: Continental Drift‎^[2]:

     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.

   1. A YouTube video that is less than one minute long.
3. A short version of a garment in a particular 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 or short position.

   He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.

7. A summary account.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     For the short and the long is, our play is preferred.

8. (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
   • 1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics, page 18:

     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 (i, ɔ), the long narrow (i, ɔ), besides being generally diphthongic as well.

9. (programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
10. (US, slang) An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles.
    • 1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount, Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use, page 47:

      For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buy stuff and get off just before getting sick.

    • 1982, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice, Career Criminal Life Sentence Act of 1981: Hearings, page 87:

      […] list of all crimes reported by these 61 daily criminals during their years on the street is: theft (this includes shoplifting; "cracking shorts", burglary and other forms of stealing), dealing, forgery, gambling, confidence games (flim-flam, etc.) […]

• → Cantonese: short
• → Italian: short
• → Japanese: ショート (shōto)
  • → Mandarin: 秀逗 (xiùdou)
  • → Hakka: 秀逗 (sió-tò)
• → Maltese: xort

• shorts

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, informal) To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.

   This is the third time I’ve caught them shorting us.

   • 1991 August 24, Maridee BonaDea, quoting Brian Freeman, “Pomo Afro Homos On The Road”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 6, page 9:

     It's hard now. The NEA, state and city budgets are messed up and it's the small artists like us that are the ones getting shorted.

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.

• → Maltese: xxortja

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.

• (deficient in): lacking, short on

• Stohr, horst, trosh, Horst, hotṛs, Roths, thors, Stroh, hotrs

• shortë, shorte

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin sors, sortem.^[1]

short m (plural shórte, definite shórti, definite plural shórtet) (uncountable)

1. drawing (action where the outcome is selected by chance using a draw)
2. (originally southern Gheg, Tirana) sweepstakes, lot, portion
3. (in the plural) stake, share, inheritance

   Synonym: hise

4. (figurative) luck

   Synonym: fat

5. (figurative) spouse, consort

   Synonyms: bashkëshort, burrë, grua

6. (archaic) fortune-telling

• “short”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[3] (in Albanian), 1980
• “short”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
• Mann, S. E. (1948) “short”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 488

From English short, in the sense of a short circuit. Cognate with Taiwanese Hokkien 秀逗.

short

1. (Cantonese) insane; crazy

   short short哋 [Cantonese]  ―  sot¹ sot¹ dei^6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  a bit crazy

   • 1991, Fight Back to School:

     有都唔借你啦，short㗎你？ [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

     jau⁵ du¹ m⁴ ze³ nei⁵ laa¹, sot¹ gaa⁴ nei⁵? [Jyutping]

     I'm not lending it [my homework to you] even if I have done it. You're crazy, aren't you?

short

1. (Cantonese, of people) to become insane; to become crazy
2. (Cantonese, of electronics) to malfunction
3. (Cantonese, electrical engineering) to short-circuit

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɔʁt/

• Audio:

  (file)

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.

• “short”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Unadapted borrowing from English short.

short m (invariable)

1. short (short film etc.)

short

1. Alternative form of schort

• shorts

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

short m (plural shorts)

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

   Synonyms: calção, calções, shorts

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃoɾt/ [ˈʃoɾt̪]
• Rhymes: -oɾt
• Syllabification: short

short m (plural shorts)

1. shorts

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “short”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28