short
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: shôrt
ipa: /ʃɔːt/
ipa: /ʃoɹt/
note: St. Louis
ipa: [ʃɑɹt]
ipa: /ˈʃoːrt/
ipa: /ˈʃoːɻt/
ipa: /ʃoːt/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
note: rhotic
ipa: /ʃɔɹt/
note: non-rhotic
ipa: /ʃɔːt/
note: Dublin, without the horse–hoarse merger
ipa: /ˈʃɒːɹt/
Forms: form: shorter
form: shortest
Etymology: 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-. Doublet of curt.
Cognates
Cognate with shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, 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”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. Doublet of curt. More at shirt.
Senses: glosses: Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
examples: text: Nhung Ngo had the shortest legs at Site-43. She was the shortest member of staff, two inches beneath the positively elfin Delfina Ibanez, and yet Lillian found her inexplicably difficult to shake. Power-walking down the halls didn't do the trick, as it always did when Wettle-dodging, since the diminutive headshrink kept disappearing into commissaries or service corridors or even other people's offices and emerging, smiling, in front of her.
ref: 2022 September 22, HarryBlank, “Mind Over Matter”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 23 May 2024:
glosses: Of comparatively small height.
raw_tags: of a person
examples: text: Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.
text: The results of this generalized speedup of the corporate metabolism are multiple: shorter product life cycles, more leasing and renting, more frequent buying and selling, more ephemeral consumption patterns, […]
ref: 1980, Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave, page 230:
text: 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.
ref: 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 172:
text: Having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is associated with a shorter life expectancy and a greater risk of mental health issues, according to a new study of more than 30,000 people with the disorder in the United Kingdom.
ref: 2025 January 23, Kristen Rogers, “People with ADHD have shorter life expectancy and higher risk of mental health issues, study finds”, in CNN:
antonyms: long
glosses: Having little duration.
examples: text: "Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".
glosses: Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
raw_tags: followed by for
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: that is relatively close to the batsman.
raw_tags: of a fielder or fielding position
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
raw_tags: of a ball
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: that falls short of the green or the hole.
raw_tags: of an approach shot or putt
topics: gambling
games
glosses: Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
examples: text: 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.)
ref: 2013, Heston Blumenthal, Historic Heston, →ISBN, page 122:
topics: baking
cooking
engineering
food
lifestyle
metallurgy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Brittle, crumbly. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening, hot short, cold-short.)
raw_tags: of pastries
examples: text: He gave a short answer to the question.
text: “We are short to-night!” cries the woman, with a propitiatory laugh. “Short and snappish we are! […]”
ref: 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:
text: The reason I was a tad short with Start, Leeper and Burnsome was my fear they, with their education, experience and degrees, would see what I had denied for all these years[…].
ref: 2014, Charles E. Schwarz, Murder at the Table of Fools:
glosses: Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; curt.
examples: text: a short supply of provisions
glosses: Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
examples: text: to be short of money
text: I'd lend you the cash but I'm a little short at present.
text: The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
glosses: Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.
examples: text: an account which is short of the truth
text: […]the people are worn down with taxes, and hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
ref: 1829, Walter Savage Landor, “The Emperor Alexander and Capo D'Istria”, in Imaginary Conversations, volume IV:
glosses: Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
examples: text: “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 […]
ref: 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
text: 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."
ref: 2003, Linda Chaikin, Desert Rose:
glosses: Undiluted; neat.
examples: text: Marinell was sore offended / That his departure thence should be so short.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:
text: He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day.
ref: (Can we date this quote?), 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: The Theater:
text: But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Not distant in time; near at hand.
examples: text: short position
text: I'm short in General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.
topics: business
finance
coordinate_terms: long
glosses: Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
glosses: Doubtful of, skeptical of.
examples: text: He pulled a cheque-book from his pocket, and drew for two hundred thousand pounds. “I'll take it short,” he said […]
ref: 1909, James Blyth, The member for Easterby, page 296:
topics: business
finance
antonyms: long
glosses: Of money: given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.
Synonyms: sense: having a small distance between ends or edges
word: low
sense: having a small distance between ends or edges
word: narrow
sense: having a small distance between ends or edges
word: slim
sense: having a small distance between ends or edges
word: shallow
sense: of a person, of comparatively little height
word: little
sense: of a person, of comparatively little height
word: pint-sized
sense: of a person, of comparatively little height
word: petite
sense: of a person, of comparatively little height
word: titchy
sense: having little duration
word: brief
sense: having little duration
word: concise
sense: constituting an abbreviation (for)
word: an abbreviation of
sense: constituting an abbreviation (for)
word: a short form of
word: scrimp
word: short
word: shortsome
word: stubbed
word: stubby
word: stumpy
word: vertically challenged
Hypernyms: word: small
Hyponyms: word: dumpy
word: squat
word: stocky
word: abridged
word: decurtate
Coordinate terms: word: narrow
word: shallow
word: slim
Related terms: word: heightism
word: pipsqueak
word: short man syndrome
word: shortness
word: shorty