English
short
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ʃɔːt/
  • (America)
    • (GA) IPA: /ʃɔɹt/
    • (St. Louis) IPA: [ʃɑɹt]
  • (AU, New Zealand) IPA: /ʃoːt/
Adjective

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.
    Antonyms: long
    Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it's been at least twenty minutes long.
  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) that bounced relatively far from the batsman.
  7. (golf, of an approach shot or putt) that falls short of the green or the hole.
  8. (of pastries) Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of a large quantity of fat. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening.)
  9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.
    He gave a short answer to the question.
  10. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
    a short supply of provisions
  11. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking.
    to be short of money
    The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
  12. Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
    an account which is short of the truth
  13. (colloquial) Undiluted; neat.
  14. (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
    • 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.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume I, London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗:
      But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.
  15. Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
    I'm short General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (having a small distance between ends or edges) tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long
  • (of a person, of comparatively little height) tall
  • (having little duration) long
  • (cricket) long
  • (financial position expecting falling value) long
Translations Translations
  • German: kurz (für)
  • Italian: abbreviazione
  • Portuguese: abreviação (de)
  • Russian: кра́ткий
Translations Translations Adverb

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.
Translations Noun

short (plural shorts)

  1. A short circuit.
  2. A short film.
    • 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift[http://www.avclub.com/articles/ice-age-continental-drift,82358/]
      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.
  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.
    He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
  7. A summary account.
    • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:
      For the short and the long is, our play is preferred.
  8. (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
  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.) […]
Translations Verb

short (shorts, present participle shorting; past and past participle shorted)

  1. (transitive) To cause a short circuit#Noun|short circuit in (something).
  2. (intransitive) Of an electrical circuit, to short circuit#Verb|short circuit.
  3. (transitive) To shortchange.
  4. (transitive) To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.
    This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
  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.
Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: curto-circuitar
Preposition
  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.
Synonyms
Short
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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