short
Part of speech: adj
adv
verb
prep
Morphological type: simple
Topics: baking
ball-games
business
cooking
cricket
finance
food
gambling
games
golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.?
Proto-Germanic *skertaną
Proto-Germanic *skurtaz
Proto-West Germanic *skurt
Old English sċort
Middle English schort
English short
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 shirt, skirt, and curt.
Cognates
Cognate with 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. See more at shirt.
Inflected forms:
form: shorter
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: shortest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: shorts
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: shorting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: shorted
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: shorted
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
pos: adj
gloss: Of a person, living being, or object, having a comparatively small height.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Having little duration.
pos: adj
examples: Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.
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, […]
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.
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.
gloss: Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
pos: adj
examples: "Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".
gloss: Of a fielder or fielding position, that is relatively close to the batsman.
pos: adj
gloss: Of a ball, bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
pos: adj
gloss: Of an approach shot or putt, that falls short of the green or the hole.
pos: adj
gloss: Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
pos: adj
gloss: Of pastries or (metallurgy) of materials, brittle, crumbly.
pos: adj
examples: shortbread
hot short
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.)
gloss: Abrupt, brief, pointed, curt.
pos: adj
examples: He gave a short answer to the question.
“We are short to-night!” cries the woman, with a propitiatory laugh. “Short and snappish we are! […]”
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[…].
gloss: Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
pos: adj
examples: a short supply of provisions
gloss: Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.
pos: adj
examples: 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.
gloss: Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
pos: adj
examples: an account which is short of the truth
[…]the people are worn down with taxes, and hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
gloss: Undiluted; neat.
pos: adj
tags: colloquial
examples: “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 […]
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."
gloss: Not distant in time; near at hand.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: Marinell was sore offended / That his departure thence should be so short.
He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day.
But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.
gloss: Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
pos: adj
examples: short position
I'm short in General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.
gloss: Doubtful of, skeptical of.
pos: adj
tags: broadly
gloss: Of money, given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.
pos: adj
tags: dated
examples: He pulled a cheque-book from his pocket, and drew for two hundred thousand pounds. “I'll take it short,” he said […]
gloss: Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: 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.
gloss: Unawares.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: The recent developments at work caught them short.
We were caught short by the sudden hailstorm.
gloss: Without achieving a goal or requirement.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: His speech fell short of what was expected.
gloss: Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
gloss: With a negative ownership position.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: We went short most finance companies in July.
gloss: To cause a short circuit in (something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: You should short the poles of the capacitor to discharge it before you work on it.
gloss: To short circuit.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To provide with an amount smaller than that agreed or labeled; to shortchange.
pos: verb
tags: informal
transitive
examples: This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To shorten.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
gloss: Deficient in.
pos: prep
examples: We are short a few men on the second shift.
He's short common sense.
gloss: Having a negative position in.
pos: prep
examples: I don’t want to be short the market going into the weekend.
Synonyms: low
scrimp
short
shortsome
stubbed
stubby
stumpy
vertically challenged
Antonyms: long
tall
Related words: heightism
pipsqueak
short man syndrome
shortness
shorty
shorts
Translations: