short

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-. Cognate with shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, 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”), Russian коро́ткий (korótkij, “short, brief”). More at shirt.

• enPR: shôrt
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃɔːt/
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃɔɹt/

    • Audio (US)

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  • (St. Louis (Missouri)) IPA^(key): [ʃɑɹt]
• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ʃoːt/

• Audio (AU)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t

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 little height.
3. Having little duration; opposite of long.
   • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎, 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.

   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 and metals) Brittle, crumbly, especially due to the use of too much shortening. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust.)
   • 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.)

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

    • Landor

      Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.

13. (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
    • Edmund Spenser

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

    • Clarendon

      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 (please specify |volume=I to VI), 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.

14. 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.

• (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

• (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, of a fielder or fielding position, relatively close to the batsman): long
• (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

     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. Used to indicate a short-length version of a 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.
   • Shakespeare

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

8. (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
   • H. Sweet

     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.

9. (programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.

• 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) 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.

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, hotrs, thors, trosh

Borrowed from Latin sors, sortem.

short m

1. drawing (action where the outcome is selected by chance using a draw)
2. sweepstakes

From English short.

short

1. (Cantonese) insane; crazy

short

1. (Cantonese, of electronics) to malfunction
2. (Cantonese, electrical engineering) to short-circuit

• 《粵典》

• IPA^(key): /ʃɔʁt/

• audio

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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 le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

short m (invariable)

1. short (short film etc)

short

1. Alternative form of schort

• shorts

short m (plural shorts)

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

• calção

short m (plural shorts)

1. shorts