short Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed
  2. noun accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference
    short circuit.
  3. noun the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base
    shortstop.
  4. verb cheat someone by not returning him enough money
    short-change.
  5. verb create a short circuit in
    short-circuit.
  6. adjective primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
    • a short life
    • a short flight
    • a short holiday
    • a short story
    • only a few short months
  7. adjective (primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length
    • short skirts
    • short hair
    • the board was a foot short
    • a short toss
  8. adjective low in stature; not tall
    little.
    • he was short and stocky
    • short in stature
    • a short smokestack
    • a little man
  9. adjective satellite not sufficient to meet a need
    poor; inadequate.
    • an inadequate income
    • a poor salary
    • money is short
    • on short rations
    • food is in short supply
    • short on experience
  10. adjective (of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range
    unretentive; forgetful.
    • a short memory
  11. adjective not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices
    • a short sale
    • short in cotton
  12. adjective of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration
    • the English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt' are short
  13. adjective satellite less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so
    scant; light.
    • a light pound
    • a scant cup of sugar
    • regularly gives short weight
  14. adjective satellite lacking foresight or scope
    unforesightful; shortsighted; myopic.
    • a short view of the problem
    • shortsighted policies
    • shortsighted critics derided the plan
    • myopic thinking
  15. adjective satellite tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening
    • shortbread is a short crumbly cookie
    • a short flaky pie crust
  16. adjective satellite marked by rude or peremptory shortness
    brusque; curt; brusk.
    • try to cultivate a less brusque manner
    • a curt reply
    • the salesgirl was very short with him
  17. adverb quickly and without warning
    suddenly; dead; abruptly.
    • he stopped suddenly
  18. adverb without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold
    • he made his fortune by selling short just before the crash
  19. adverb clean across
    • the car's axle snapped short
  20. adverb at some point or distance before a goal is reached
    • he fell short of our expectations
  21. adverb so as to interrupt
    • She took him up short before he could continue
  22. adverb at a disadvantage
    unawares.
    • I was caught short
  23. adverb in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner
    shortly; curtly.
    • he told me curtly to get on with it
    • he talked short with everyone
    • he said shortly that he didn't like it

WordNet

Short adjective
Etymology
OE. short, schort, AS. scort, sceort; akin to OHG. scurz, Icel. skorta to be short of, to lack, and perhaps to E. shear, v. t. Cf. Shirt.
Wordforms
comparative Shorter ; superlative Shortest
Definitions
  1. Not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight.
    The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it. Isa. xxviii. 20.
  2. Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted; as, short breath.
    The life so short, the craft so long to learn. Chaucer.
    To short absense I could yield. Milton.
  3. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as, a short supply of provisions, or of water.
  4. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the ordinary, standard; -- usually with of; as, to be short of money.
    We shall be short in our provision. Shak.
  5. Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a measure or standard; as, an account which is short of the trith.
  6. Not distant in time; near at hand.
    Marinell was sore offended That his departure thence should be so short. Spenser.
    He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day. Clarendon.
  7. Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive; narrow; not tenacious, as memory.
    Their own short understandings reach No farther than the present. Rowe.
  8. Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or equivalent; less (than); -- with of.
    Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war. Landor.
  9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short answer to the question.
  10. (Cookery) Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth; crisp; as, short pastry.
  11. (Metal) Brittle. ✍ Metals that are brittle when hot are called ot-short; as, cast iron may be hot-short, owing to the presence of sulphur. Those that are brittle when cold are called cold-short; as, cast iron may be cold-short, on account of the presence of phosphorus.
  12. (Stock Exchange) Engaging or engaged to deliver what is not possessed; as, short contracts; to be short of stock. See The shorts, under Short, n., and To sell short, under Short, adv. ✍ In mercantile transactions, a note or bill is sometimes made payable at short sight, that is, in a little time after being presented to the payer.
  13. (Phon.) Not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in utterance; -- opposed to long, and applied to vowels or to syllables. In English, the long and short of the same letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the short sound of a in pate, etc. See Quantity, and Guide to Pronunciation, §§22, 30. ✍ Short is much used with participles to form numerous self-explaining compounds; as, short-armed, short-billed, short-fingered, short-haired, short-necked, short-sleeved, short-tailed, short-winged, short-wooled, etc.
Short noun
Definitions
  1. A summary account.
    The short and the long is, our play is preferred. Shak.
  2. pl. The part of milled grain sifted out which is next finer than the bran.
    The first remove above bran is shorts. Halliwell.
  3. pl. Short, inferior hemp.
  4. pl. Breeches; shortclothes. Slang Dickens.
  5. (Phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
    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, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well. Hence, originally short vowels can be lengthened and yet kept quite distinct from the original longs. H. Sweet.
Short adverb
Definitions
  1. In a short manner; briefly; limitedly; abruptly; quickly; as, to stop short in one's course; to turn short.
    He was taken up very short, and adjudged corrigible for such presumptuous language. Howell.
Short transitive verb
Etymology
AS. sceortian.
Definitions
  1. To shorten. Obs.
Short intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To fail; to decrease. Obs.

Webster 1913