short

English

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Etymology

From Middle English short, schort, from Old English sċeort, scort (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)k(ʷ)Art-, *(s)k(ʷ)Ard- (“short”). Cognate with Scots short, schort (“short”), Old High German scurz (Middle High German schurz, “short”), Old Norse skorta (Danish skorte, “to lack”), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”). More at shirt.

Pronunciation

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 little height.
  3. Having little duration; opposite of 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 ball) that bounced relatively far from the batsman
  6. (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position) relatively close to the batsman
  7. brittle (of pastry); see also shortening, shortcrust
  8. missing, deficient
    The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
  9. Any 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.

Usage notes

  • (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.

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

Derived terms

Terms derived from short

Translations

having a small distance between ends or edges
constituting an abbreviation (for)
of a person, of comparatively little height
having little duration
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

short (not comparable)

  1. abruptly
    They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
  2. unawares
    The recent developments at work caught them short.
  3. briefly
    The boss got a message and cut the meeting short.
  4. curtly
    He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.
  5. without achieving a goal or requirement
    His speech fell short of what was expected.
  6. (cricket) of a cricket ball, to bounce relatively far from the batsman so that it bounces higher than normal; opposite of full
  7. (finance) With a negative ownership position.
    We went short most finance companies in July.

Noun

short (plural shorts)

  1. A short circuit.
  2. A short film.
    • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift[1]
      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) 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.

Translations

a short circuit
baseball: shortstop

Verb

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.

Translations

transitive: to cause a short circuit
intransitive: to short circuit
shortchange — see shortchange
to provide with smaller than agreed quantity
business: to sell sthg one does not own at the moment

Preposition

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.

Synonyms

Statistics

Anagrams

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Albanian

Etymology

From Latin sors, sortem.

Noun

short m

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

Pronunciation

Noun

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.”
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Italian

Etymology

English

Noun

short m (invariable)

  1. short (short film etc)
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 21:11