| 释义 |
▪ I. short, a., n., and adv.|ʃɔːt|
Forms: 1–3 sceort, (1 compar. scyrtra, superl. scyrtest, scortost), 1–5 scort, 3 shorrt, scheort, (sort), 3–4 ssort, 3–8 schort, (4 schorth, chort), 4–5 s(c)hert, 4–6 shortt, schorte, 4–7 shorte, (5 schorthe, sorte), 5–6 schortt, 3– short.
[OE. sc(e)ort = OHG. scurz:—OTeut. type *skurto- (compar. *skurtizon-, OE. scyrtra), whence Du. schorten, ON. skorta to lack; for other derivatives see shirt, skirt ns.
The Teut. adj. is commonly regarded as a popular L. *excurtus (f. L. ex- + curtus). On this view it would be parallel in origin with the synonymous OFris., OS. kurt, Du. kort, OHG. (MHG., mod.G.) kurz, a WGer. adoption of L. curtus. The Rom. langs., however, afford no evidence of a popular Latin *excurtus, and it is unlikely that such a form existed. It is possible that Teut. *skurto- may be an altered adoption of L. curtus, with prefixed s either due to some Teut. analogy or attracted from the ending of a preceding word in some Latin context. Some scholars, however, regard *skurto- as a native Teut. word, f. a root *skert- (supposed to be evidenced in MHG. scherze, scherzel small piece):—pre-Teut. *skerd-, an extension of *sker- to cut (see shear v.).]
A. adj.
I. With reference to spatial measurement.
1. a. Having small longitudinal extent; measuring little along its greatest dimension, or from end to end. Opposed to long.
c888ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §3 Forþy hi habbað swa sceortne ymbhwyrft [etc.]. c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 252 Se winterlica mona..hæfð scyrtran sceade þonne seo sunne. 1154O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137, An cæste þat was scort & nareu. c1205Lay. 28624 Þat wes an sceort bat liðen. c1290S. Eng. Leg. 9/284 Þo was it bi a fote to schort. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1686 No man ther fore..No maner shot polax ne short[e] knyf In to the lystes sende. 1390Gower Conf. I. 99 Hire Necke is schort. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 864 Ilk ane schort knyfe braidit out sone. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 28 The corne commeth thinne vp: the eare is short, the grayne is small. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 45 b, Some do vse short Sythes. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 19 Thay beir verie schorte tailis, als schorte as the tail of ane hyne. 1735Johnson Lobo's Abyssinia, Voy. ii. 11 Surrounded by his Courtiers who had each a Stick in his Hand, which is longer or shorter, according to the quality of the Person admitted into the King's Presence. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 81 Short (abbreviatus), a cup is said to be short, when it is shorter than the tube of the blossom. 1840Lardner Geom. 146, PF must be the shortest line which can be drawn from the point P to the line AB. 1871Farjeon Joshua Marvel xlii. III. 263 George Marvel..having by this time got used to the short clays..had just declared that he enjoyed a short pipe as well as a long one. 1895A. J. C. Hare Gurneys of Earlham I. i. 7 A short staircase leading to an ante room.
b. of grass, wool, hair, down, etc. to get by the short hairs: see hair n. 8 o. Also, in same sense (slang, orig. Mil.), to get or have (a person) by the short and curlies.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxvi. (1495) 650 Herbes of mountaynes and of hye places ben thynner and shorter than herbes of valeyes and of meedys. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §25 Shorte hey, and leye-hey is good for shepe. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 603 The salt and short pasture. 1620Westward for Smelts (Percy Soc.) 55 She felt by the short haire on his head, that it was the priest. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 95 The pyramidal Seed, crowned by the short down. 1823Irby & Mangles Trav. viii. (1844) 149/2 The short woolly hair of the Africans. 1859Habits of Gd. Society i. 114 Nothing..makes the face look so unlovely as a chin covered with short stubble. 1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. ii. (1872) 200 The long silk staple of Georgia, and the short cottons of Egypt. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 168 Short and curlies, the short hairs, in the phrase ‘He got me by the short and curlies’—he caught me out properly. 1956P. Scott Male Child iii. i. 191 ‘Is there any point in going on, if you can't fool yourself?’.. ‘Of course not. That's where we're got by the short and curlies. We cling on.’ 1969J. Gardner Founder Member iv. 72 ‘Stalemate?’.. ‘Looks like it... Got us hard by the short and curlies. I wouldn't try arguing.’ 1971D. Francis Bonecrack xii. 153 Suppose..that I abducted Alessandro... I would then have Enso by the short and curlies. 1976P. Hill Hunters xi. 164 There is no need for kid gloves now, we've got him by the short and curlies.
c. of a garment.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 93 Short was his gowne with sleues longe and wyde. c1440Promp. Parv. 448/1 Schort or stukkyd garment, nepticula. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 7 A certayne number of gentelmen..apparayled all in one sewte of shorte garmentes. 1607[see paned ppl. a.]. 1821Scott Kenilw. xxvi, A close jerkin of scarlet velvet, looped with gold, with short breeches of the same. 1859Habits of Gd. Society iv. 168 Tight dresses and short waists. 1892W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy 225, I see no reason why a governess in a vicarage should not wear short petticoats if she has good legs. 1893Leland Mem. I. 92, I was sixteen years of age and six feet high before I was allowed to leave off short jackets.
d. Const. in: Having a specified part short.
1800Med. Jrnl. III. 425 Not peculiarly short in the neck. 1837Dickens Pickw. ii, ‘Rather short in the waist, an't it,’ said the stranger. 1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. v, But my coat was..very high in the waist and short in the sleeves.
e. Of distance: Not great. Of a journey, flight, etc., Extending over a short distance. † Hence of a passenger, a train: Travelling a short distance.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxvii. §10 The way which they take to the same Inne is somewhat more short but no whit more certaine. 1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. xxxv. 305 Birdes..whose flight is shorte. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 283 Nor dare they stray,..Nor Forrage far, but short Excursions make. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 171 Their blood, without entering their lungs, takes a shorter passage through the very partition of the heart. 1785J. Trusler Mod. Times I. 30 'Tis true we get a shilling or two occasionally, by a short passenger, or for the carriage of a parcel that is not booked. 1844Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. VII. 288/1 To what are called short passengers, this delay is a most serious inconvenience. 1858Rep. Sel. Comm. Rlwy. Accid. 72 First of all, there are short trains. 1886C. E. Pascoe Lond. To-day xx. (ed. 3) 201 A shorter and more economical trip would be to take the train at King's Cross for Muswell Hill. 1889Infantry Drill 217 Firing distances with the rifle may be classified as follows:—Up to 400 yards, ‘Short Distances’; From 400 to 800 yards, ‘Medium Distances’; [etc.].
† f. short weapon: ? a weapon for hand-to-hand fighting (or perh. a sword, dagger, etc. as opposed to a lance or pike). Also a soldier bearing such a weapon. Obs.
1600J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 32 The forelorn hope consisting of 40 shott and 20 shorte weapons. 1821Scott Kenilw. xvi, Retainers or followers, armed with short, or with long weapons.
g. fig. In Biblical expressions, said of a person's ‘hand’ or ‘arm’, implying inadequacy or limited range of power.
1549Compl. Scot. ix. 75 Behold, the hand of the lorde is na scheortar nor it vas. [1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI. i. ii. 12 Put forth thy hand, reach at the glorious Gold. What, is't too short? Ile lengthen it with mine.] 1611Bible Num. xi. 23 And the Lord said vnto Moses, Is the Lords hand waxed short? 1656Bp. Hall Solil. 28 If thou hast given me but a private and short hand, yet give a large and public heart. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. I. 10 They whose Hands are shortest, may yet have Hearts as large as the greatest Monarch upon Earth.
h. Of action, vision, etc.: Reaching but a little way. (See short sight.) Hence fig. of mental powers, ideas, etc.: Contracted in range.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 746 My wit is short ye may wel vnderstonde. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. vi. (1848) 207 How short and dim a knowledge must they have of him, that have no other than these Corporal Instructers. 1702Rowe Ambit. Step-Mother i. i. 174 Their own short understandings reach No farther than the present. 1714Young Force of Relig. i. 225 Oh! mortals, short of sight. 1736Butler Anal. Diss. ii. 319 Our short Views. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. ii, Cradled in hope and short vision.
i. As complement. to cut short, trim, etc. short: to make short by cutting, trimming, etc.
This use is difficult to distinguish from the advb. use in to cut short (= F. couper court): see C. 9.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 109 The fingers [of a shooting glove] muste be cut short. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop iii, Hair..cut short and straight upon his temples.
2. a. Of persons: Low in stature: opposed to tall. Phr. † shorter by the head: beheaded.
short by the knees (nonce-use): said of a person kneeling.
a900Wærferth Gregory's Dial. 46 Swa sceort man & swa unfæᵹer on ansyne. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8532 Vor he was somdel ssort he clupede him courtehese. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 624, I..euere folwed myn appetit Al were he short or long or blak or whit. 1483Cath. Angl. 337/2 Schorthe, argutus, vt corporis arguti surgit pigmeus. a1548Hall Chron., Hen. IV, 14 The Duke of Exceter..was..there made shorter by the hed. 1713Rowe Jane Shore i. i. 5 Her brother Rivers Ere this lies shorter by the head at Pomfret. 1746Francis tr. Horace, Epist. i. xii. 38 Short by the Knees [L. genibus minor] the haughty Parthian kneels. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xliii, A man..somewhat short of stature.
absol.1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 243 Louely layke was it neuere bitwene þe longe and þe shorte.
†b. rarely of a hill. Obs.
1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 43 This is the last and hindmest hil in Scotland, and thairfor the schortest.
3. short dung, short manure, short muck: manure containing short straw and in an advanced state of fermentation. (Cf. branch IV.)
1618W. Lawson New Orch. & Gard. ii. (1623) 3 Good short, hot, and tender mucke. 1778W. Marshall Minutes Agric. Observ. 111 The ordinary distinction of Long-Dung and Short or Spit-Dung, have likewise been observed. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 199 In situations, where much alluvial compost, or short town manure, can be procured. 1830Cumb. Farm Rep. 58 in Lib. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Short dung is unquestionably most suitable for turnips. 1884L. F. Allen New Amer. Farm Bk. 70 The comparative advantages of long and short manure (the fermented and unfermented).
4. Of the sea, etc.: Having short waves; choppy.
1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxviii. (1857) 420 The sea rose tremendously—at once short, high, and irregular. 1838FitzGerald Let. to Barton Apr., Lett. (1889) I. 42 One labours through it [a book] as vessels do through what is called a short sea. 1903Kipling Five Nations 40 Do you know the shallow Baltic where the seas are steep and short, Where the bluff, lee-boarded fishing-luggers ride?
II. With reference to duration or serial extent.
5. a. Of a period of time, of a process, state or action considered as extending over a period of time: Having little extent in duration, lasting but little time, brief. Also said of duration. at short intervals: at times separated by brief intervals. in short order: see order n. 27 d.
c888ælfred Boeth. iv, Þu þe ðam winterdaᵹum selest scorte tida & þæs sumeres dahum langran. c1055Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia VIII. 306 Forþam he [sc. February] ys scyrtest ealra monða. c1200Vices & Virtues 9 Al swo we forlieseð ðis scorte lif ðurh unhersumness. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 38 Men be nowe of lesse wittis & schortere tyme & feblere of complexion. c1381Chaucer Parl. Foules 1 The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne. 14..in Rel. Ant. I. 318 The xij day of December ys the shortest day of the yere. c1450Holland Howlat 112 That ȝe wald cry apon Crist,..To schape me a schand bird in a schort space. 1539Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 213 The kinges maiestes will is that ye shal make the shortiest abode there ye can. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 181 Three yeeres is but short. 1684Norris Poems 21 Like Angels visits, short and bright. 1696Whiston Theory Earth ii. (1722) 209, I shall shew..that the Antediluvian Year was shorter than the present Year. 1742Blair Grave 589 Its Visits Like those of Angels short, and far between. 1751Jortin Serm. (1771) I. ii. 17 The death of Isaac would be only a short sleep. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 3 Oct. (1806) VI. 341 The short intervals betwixt every heave he employed in crying for mercy. 1807Med. Jrnl. XVII. 143 The fever is of shorter duration. 1842Mrs. Kirkland Forest Life II. 19 The short remainder of his stay at Mr. Hay's, say him eat his meals like a Trappist. 1859Habits of Gd. Society xiv. 348 Ices handed at short intervals throughout the evening. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay vii, Is it possible that on so short an acquaintance you were so severely hit? 1895Law Times XCIX. 499/2 Days are considerably shorter at this time of year [Oct.].
b. Occas. applied to conditions, qualities, etc. not usually described in terms of duration: Not lasting a long time, soon over, short-lived. Somewhat arch.
971Blickl. Hom. v. 65 Cuþlice þæt wuldor þysses middanᵹeardes is sceort & ᵹewitende. c1200Trin. Coll. Hom. 19 And mid his shorte deaðe he lesde hem ut of eche deaðe. 1340Ayenb. 81 Uayrhede..is þing uals ssort and ydel. 1570T. Norton Nowell's Catech. 17 Doest thou say, that vnaduised and sodeine desires, and short thoughtes that come vpon the very godly are sinnes? 1620Granger Div. Logike 107 A short inclination, setling, or apt entrance to an habite. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 474 Where basking in the Sun-shine they may lye, And the short Remnants of his Heat enjoy. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 52 (Remise Door) The triumphs of a true feminine heart are short upon these discomfitures. 1787‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsem. (1809) 34 Your attachment to your horse may be as short as you please.
c. to make short work of (occas. with): to deal summarily with, to dispose of quickly.
1577Grange Golden Aphrod. I ij b, He desirous to make shorte worke thereof, sayd. 1686W. Hopkins tr. Ratramnus Dissert. v. (1688) 84, I might make short work of it, by alledging all those Authors who [etc.]. 1728Cibber & Vanbr. Prov. Husb. iv. i. 63 This was making short Work on't. 1834Tracts for Times No. 22. 12 When they made such short work with the Prayer-Book. 1885Clodd Myths i. vii. 123 Criticism has made short work of the romancing chronicles which so long did duty for sober history.
†d. Qualifying days as collect. pl. = time. Also short days used advb. for ‘in a short time’. Sc.
1533Bellenden Livy i. vi. (S.T.S.) I. 37 Schort dayis following king Tacius past to lavyne. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 87 They war beguild withtin schort dayis.
e. short prescription (Law): a prescription established by a short period of user.
1838W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 770 The object of the shorter prescriptions, in truth, is, generally speaking, to protect parties against the consequences of negligence in the preservation of vouchers. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXII. 297/2 There are certain short prescriptions recognized by Scots law—corresponding to the limitations of English law... There are also other shorter prescriptions limiting rights of action in different matters.
f. Qualifying a n. denoting a period of time, to indicate a pleased or regretful sense of its brevity. (Cf. 15 b.)
1715Pope Iliad ii. 357 One short month. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 953 A few short years,..A few, still seeming shorter, and we hear [etc.]. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. v. i, Seven short weeks of quiet. 1855Tennyson Maud ii. iv. iii, Ah Christ, that it were possible For one short hour to see The souls we loved.
g. short while, used advb. (now only preceded by a) with the sense ‘during a short time’. (In OE. as adverbial genitive.)
c897ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxvi. 255 Ðæt wæs to suiðe scortre hwile. a1300Cursor M. 6683 Scort quile or lang. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 632 Whether he lyf lang or short while. 1635J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 161 The King (after having jeasted a short while with some of the Ladies). 1613Drummond of Hawthornden Tears Death Mœliades 9 O short-while-lasting Ioy! Of Earth-borne Man. 1828Scott Aunt Marg. Mirror Introd., The adventurous spirit of times short while since passed.
†h. to make (it) short: to lose no time, hasten.
1490Caxton Eneydos xx. 73 Hie the, and make it shorte, mounte vpon the see, and tarye no lenger. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxv. 15/2 Within a certayn day lymitted, to auoyde out of his countrey the erle of Artoyse, & to make shorte.
i. Of a person's memory: Not long retaining anything.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 774 His mynde es short when he oght thynkes. 1607Chapman Bussy d' Ambois i. i. 209 You call'd me lately D'Ambois; has your Worship So short a head? 1731–8Swift Pol. Conversat. Introd. 32 Whose Memories may be too short. 1839Haliburton Letter Bag Ded. (1840) p. vii, Great men are apt to have short memories.
6. a. Of an appointed date in the future: Allowing but a short time, early, near at hand. Chiefly in phrases a short day (Law), (a bill) at short date or sight (Comm.).
a1400Arthur 213 Þu schalt be tawȝt at a schort day for to make suche aray. c1450in Kingsford Chron. Lond. (1905) 117 Þe day þt þei askyd was to shorte. 1472–3Rolls of Parlt. VI. 51/2 A corpus cum causa, retournable..at a certeyn short day to come. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxv. 136 They wolde fayne haue had a short day, but it wolde not be. 1682J. Scarlett Exchanges 42 If the Bill be at short sight. 1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1864/8 As soon as the whole Sum is paid in, a short day will be appointed,..for the drawing thereof. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 441 They were bound..to commit the person so impeached, and then give a short day for his trial. 1747Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. 311 You must not wonder that a short day is intended. 1912Times 19 Dec. 19/4 Exchange on London, sight..Do., 60 days' sight..Do., Berlin, short sight.
b. Of notice: Given not long beforehand.
1811Regul. & Orders Army 23 Prepared..on the shortest notice. 1850Kingsley Cheap Clothes 6 So that an order may be executed ‘at the shortest possible notice’, if requisite.
†c. Phrase. at short hand: for immediate needs only. Obs.
1825T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 28 What matters it whether a landlord, employing ten laborers on his farm, gives them annually as much money as will buy them the necessaries of life, or gives them those necessaries at short hand?
†7. Quick, speedy, immediate. Obs.
1480Coventry Leet Bk. 436 Yf the shorter remedy be not had therin, be liklihode it woll growe to gret Inconvenience. 1535Harvel in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 75, I thinke to go shortely to Anca. but I wil made shorte retorne by Godds grace. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 62 This sudand accis to heigh feliecietie sould haue ane schort decay. 1596Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 663/2 The shorte decaye of that governement. 1780Burke Corr. (1844) II. 364 There is no short remedy for our disease.
8. a. Of a speech, sentence, book, word, etc.: Having a small extent from beginning to end; brief. Phrase, to make a long story short. Also † in short words: in few words, briefly. the short answer to (something) is (and variants) (colloq.), used to introduce a straightforward, immediate, or peremptory response or solution; also transf. and fig.
c1000ælfric Saints' Lives I. iv. 140 We hit sæcᵹað eow on þa scortostan wisan. 1340Ayenb. 98 Þe bezechinge þet he ous made of his uayre yblessede mouþe uayre guode ssorte an cleuiynde. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 8 Hillarius, In schorth spech sayand þus [etc.]. c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 221 Jesus Crist made it [the Paternoster], and comaundid it in schorte wordis. 1300Gower Conf. I. 190 And forto make schorte tales, Ther cam [etc.]. 141126 Pol. Poems 40 At a sarmon wil bid a frere Make it short, or ellys be stylle. 1484Caxton Fables of Alfonce viii, Thre fables wel shorte. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 7 A shorte recapitulacion. 1575Gascoigne Glasse of Govt. ii. v. Wks. 1910 II. 40 Short tale to make, I [etc.]. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 156 Fit names for Dogges. Their names that you geue them, must be short. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 182 When I consider how short were the Lawes of antient times. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. Pref. a 2 b, They are only not so full as they would have been, had the Author liued to decipher the Short Notes. 1747in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 150 A full double of the said summons with a short copy on the foot thereof. 1750Gray Elegy 32 The short and simple annals of the poor. 1815Scott Guy M. ii, A short rent-roll. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xii, Osborne's were short and soldier-like letters. 1891Olver & O'Reilly Imperial Tariff 262 When it is complete he makes a short copy. 1905R. Bagot Passport ii. 8 To make a long story short, certain loans [etc.]. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 275 Important letters or short notes. 1955New Statesman 24 Dec. 851/1, I suppose the short answer is money. 1962Times 24 Nov. 4/6 The short answer is that they seem to indicate a far less cavalier attitude to viewers' wishes on the part of the television companies than has previously been manifest. 1966W. Cooper Memoirs of New Man i. iv. 47 ‘The short answer to that, my dear, is No.’ ‘But what about the long answer?’ 1968Guardian 10 June 7/6 There's no short answer. We have tried.. to persuade our dealers that giving service increases sales. 1978A. Price '44 Vintage vi. 69 We don't get captured, Jack—that's the short answer. 1980N.Y. Times Book Rev. 23 Mar. 11/3 The short answer is: yes, it is ill will.
b. short story: a prose work of fiction, differing from a novel by being shorter and less elaborate; a novelette. Also attrib. Hence short-storyist. Also short short story, a very short story; also ellipt. as short-short.
1877Independent 17 May 9/2 His various books have been eminently readable, in the highest sense of the adjective, and some of his short stories have been almost without a flaw in their glittering beauty. a1882Trollope Autobiogr. (1883) I. viii. 182, I had..written from time to time certain short stories, which had been published in different periodicals. 1898Daily News 13 Oct. 6/2 Any really good short story writer. 1902H. Belloc Path to Rome 140 Terror..is half the plot of their insane ‘short stories’. 1923J. M. Murry Pencillings 82 Mr H. G. Wells's definition of the short story as a fiction that can be read in a quarter of an hour. 1929Science Wonder Stories Nov. 485/1 A few years ago, a short story was anywhere from ten thousand to twenty thousand words. Of late the short, short story has gained ascendency in a number of magazines. A short, short story is one that runs to not more than fifteen hundred words. 1936E. Bowen Faber Bk. Mod. Short Stories 17 H. E. Bates has, as a shortstoryist, already a substantial body of work to his name. 1940G. V. Martin For our Vines have Tender Grapes iv. 32 Unemployed unemployables..typing endlessly the Great American Saga..cannot sell a short-short to the Chicago Daily News. 1957R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy vi. 166 The magazines go beyond the stories to the ‘short short stories’ or the ‘one-minute stories’. 1962E. Lacy Freeloaders vi. 106 An airmail letter from my agent telling me he'd sold a short-short of mine. 1972J. Symons Bloody Murder xiii. 164 The ‘short short story’ of 2,000 words or less. 1977V. S. Pritchett Gentle Barbarian vi. 90 From a short-story writer's point of view, the timing..is perfect... Turgenev is a master of his craft.
c. Phrase. short and sweet: brief and pleasant; now usually more or less ironically, of an expression that is brief and severe or decisive, or that is excessively or unusually brief.
1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 68 The Englysh prouerbe is thus pronounced. Short and swete. 1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 272 Great princes..who haue little spare leisure to hearken, would haue speeches vsed to them such as be short and sweete. 1624Heywood Captives iii. i. in Bullen Old Plays IV. 153 'Tis short and sweete, wryte this in your own hand. 1694Motteux Rabelais iv. xlix, Short and sweet, I pray you. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. viii, After a conversation short and sweet, I left the steward. 1866Harper's Mag. Oct. 674/2 The letter-book was consulted, and there stood, short and sweet, and right to the point: ‘Dear Sir’ [etc.]. 1882H. Munby Let. 9 June in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 408, I don't like burning your letters & I don't like to keep them either—short & sweet is what I like from you. 1970W. Smith Gold Mine xxxv. 92 Reasons first. I'll make it short and sweet, right?
†d. ellipt. to make short: to cut one's speech short. Also as inf. phrase: ‘to make a long story short’; to be brief. Const. of. Obs.
1556in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 246 Whereby the lord Williams cried, Make short, make short. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. viii. 9 And to make shorte,..this tower was made..for the garding and keeping of the fountayne. 1600Lyly Love's Metam. iv. ii. 9 (Bond), To make short, a good wind caused him to goe I know not whither. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. viii. (1691) 109 To make short of this matter. 1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. viii. 142 But to make short of this Argument. 1738Gentl. Mag. VIII. 640/1 To make short of my Story: In order [etc.]. 1823New Monthly Mag. IX. 200/1 To make short of the story, Celso..is put in possession.
e. Of a speaker: Brief, occupying little time. Now rare.
1515Dk. Suffolk in Mrs. M. A. E. Wood Lett. Ladies (1846) I. 201 The queen was in hand with me the first day [after], and said she must be short with me, and shew to me her pleasure and mind. 1631Star Chamber Cases (Camden) 30 My Lords,..I shall be shorte. 1713Addison Trial Count Tariff 7 Goodman Fact was very Short but Pithy. 1783Burke Sp. Fox's E. Ind. Bill Wks. 1842 I. 292, I will endeavour to be a little shorter upon the countries immediately under this charter-government. 1839Lane Arab. Nts. I. 81 Be short in thy words. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxvi, To be short with you, then, it leads me to this. If the truth has come out [etc.].
9. a. Of style of writing or speaking, hence of a writer or speaker: Concise.
1487Caxton Bk. Gd. Manners iv. vii. (W. de W. c 1515) K j, The langage of a mayde oughte to be prudent attempred and ryght shorte without habondaunce of wordes. 1530Palsgr. 323/2 Shorte compendyouse, compendieux. Ibid., Shorte in communycacions, succint. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 898 In all workes one ought to be shorte. 1815Scott Guy M. xxxv, Let me pray you to be short and explicit in what you have to say.
†b. to be short (inf. phrase) = ‘in short’.
1544Betham Precepts War Ep. Ded. A vij, But nowe to be shorte, I take them beste englysshe men, which folowe Chaucer, and other olde wryters. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 2 To be short,..what thanks had he? 1784P. Wright New Bk. Martyrs 806/1 To be short, he has left the character, amongst his neighbours, of an honest man.
10. a. Of utterances (occasionally of gestures, etc.): Rudely, angrily, or sternly brief or curt. Of persons (chiefly predicative): Rudely or angrily curt in expression; returning short answers; snappish (const. with a person).
1390Gower Conf. I. 308 Sche no merci on me leith Bot schorte wordes to me seith [etc.]. 1480Coventry Leet Bk. 446 They gyven hem schort langage. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 102 Sorie for his short answere. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 409 You are very short with vs, But if we liue, weele be as sharpe with you. 1591Lyly Endim. iii. i. 8 What make you Tellus to bee so short? 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 33 No other answer but only a short yes. 1706Estcourt Fair Example v. i. 56 Flora. She gave me a thousand short Words whilst I dress'd her this Morning, nothing wou'd please her. a1726Vanbrugh Journ. Lond. iv. i. 45 You are very short, Sir. 1855Dickens Dorrit i. xix, To-night he was quite—quite short with me. 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life I. 32, I got a trifle short with him.
†b. Not ‘long-suffering’; prompt to condemn. Obs. rare—1.
1483[see long a. 11 c].
c. Hasty in temper, easily provoked, irascible. Said also of the temper.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 73 But the deuill..had so blinded the eyes of his thought, that..at euery purpose that was spoken afore him, hee was short and might not dissemble. 1637Rutherford Lett. (1664) 225 If Christ had..been as wilfull and short as I was, my faith had gone over the brae and broken it's neck. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. v, A wee bit short in the temper. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 Mar. 5/3 Prince Bismarck's short temper.
11. Of breath, breathing: Coming in hurried gasps, impeded. Of a cough: Abrupt, checked; recurring abruptly at frequent intervals, dry, fast. Of a pulse: Making short beats, quick.
a1400–50Stockh. Med. MS. 34 For schort onde. 1591Deloney Maiden's Choice 8 Wks. (1912) 363 Ages breath is short. 1748Richardson Clarissa VII. 208 Her breath being very short, she desired another pillow. 1799Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Poet's T. (ed. 2) I. 185 The short and sudden cough..instantly recalled his reason. 1820Keats Eve St. Agnes viii, Anxious her lips, her breathing quick and short. 1822–29Good's Study Med. (ed. 3) I. 614 Dyspnœa chronica. Short breath. [1843Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xiv. 173 The pulse..changed its character from a short and small to a full soft stroke.] 1845Budd Dis. Liver 316 A short dry cough. 1870Dickens E. Drood ii, Mr. Jasper's breathing was so remarkably short. 1898Allbutt's Syst. Med. V. 929 In regurgitation, on the contrary [we have] a short pulse not slowed.
12. a. Of a series or succession: Of small extent, having few members or terms. ? Obs.
1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. 817 In this short File Barzillai first appears. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. ii. vi. 55 Out of a short collection of medals, he has given us an entire chronicle of the kings of Syria. 1825C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 9 A short edition.
b. short hour: an hour indicated by a few strokes of the clock. (Cf. small.)
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. ii. i, The short hours of night. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxxvi, Soda-water and brandy, and cigars, into the short hours. 1865Kingsley Hereward xxvi, The monks of Peterborough prayed in the minster till the long hours passed into the short.
c. a short purse: a purse soon exhausted; scanty resources. So a short kennel: a small pack of hounds.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 148 Kyng Reyner..for al his long stile had to short a purse, to sende his doughter honorably to the kyng her spouse. 1827Sporting Mag. XXI. 142 All gentlemen who have but a short kennel should look to the sort of hound they are to keep. 1835T. Mitchell Acharn. of Aristoph. 46 note, A man with a long pedigree, and a very short purse.
13. Phonetics and Prosody. Applied to a vowel (less frequently to a consonant) when its utterance has the less of the two measures of duration recognized in the ordinary classification of speech-sounds. Also, in Prosody, of a syllable: Belonging to that one of the two classes which is supposed to be distinguished from the other by occupying a shorter time in utterance. short † accent, short mark: the mark ˘ placed over a vowel letter to indicate short quantity.
For various inaccurate uses see long a. 13 a.
c1000ælfric Gram. ix. (Z.) 32 Seo forme ᵹeendung is on scortne a. 1412–20Lydg. Troy-bk. ii. 184, I toke non hede nouþer of schort nor long, But to þe trouþe, and lefte coryouste Boþe of makyng and of metre be. 1573Baret Alv. To Rdr., The last sillable saue one is short. 1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie Pref. (Arb.) 55 Abone the heid of the shorte fute, I haue put this mark ˘. c1620Hume Brit. Tongue i. ii. §17 If this argument reached as wel to i short as i lang. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Short-Accent, in Grammar, shews that the time of Pronounciation ought to be short, and is marked thus ˘. 1770Luckombe Hist. Printing 252 Vowels with the marks of Short and Long over them. 1827Tate Grk. Metres in Theat. Greeks (ed. 2) 443 Which do not permit the short vowel precedent to form a short syllable. 1845Proc. Philol. Soc. II. 138 The short u continues to represent the Gothic u. 1861Paley æschylus (ed. 2) 7 agst. Thebes 488 note, The vowel is properly long, but made short by position. 1952[see checked ppl. a.1 1 b]. 1962[see duration 1 c].
14. colloq.a. something short: undiluted spirits. short drink: a small measure of liquor; a drink which is relatively strong in alcohol and hence drunk in small measures; a dram of spirits or the like.
Perh. originally from having a short name: e.g. ‘brandy’, not ‘brandy and water’.
[1823: see B 4 f.] 1837Dickens Pickw. xlvi, If you'll order the waiter to deliver him anything short. 1844Hood Anacreontic iv, A drop of summut short. 1883Daily Tel. 2 July 5/3 All these are short drinks—that is to say, drams. 1898W. W. Jacobs Sea Urchins, Money-changers (1906) 224 I've got a bundle o' cigars an' a drop o' something short in my pocket. 1937A. J. Cronin Citadel ii. vii. 155 Challis..was successfully and cheerfully despatching his third short drink. 1957M. Spark Comforters iv. 85 Caroline and Laurence had been on short drinks, and both were rather lit up. 1973J. Aiken in V. Whitaker Winter's Crimes 5 22 A large Whisky Mac—his favourite short drink.
b. Comm. (See quots.)
1841G. Roberts Terms Trade & Comm. 43 Short; an expression of bankers when a cheque is cashed, not in small notes or gold, but by a short or ready method of giving one or more large notes. 1860Hotten's Slang Dict. s.v., Upon presenting a cheque, the clerk asks, ‘how will you take it?’ i.e. in gold or in notes? Should it be desired to receive it in as small a compass as possible, the answer is, ‘short’.
III. Not reaching to some standard.
15. a. Of things: Not coming up to some standard of measure or amount; inadequate in quantity. short measure, short weight: defective quantity by measure or weight; also, a measuring rod, vessel, etc., or a scale-weight, which defrauds the purchaser. short commons: see commons; also fig.; so short allowance, short rations, etc. Also short change (change n. 7 b). Phr. in short supply: inadequate to demand.
1390Gower Conf. II. 59 It were a schort beyete To winne chaf and lese whete. c1430Freemasonry 192 Suche a mon, throȝe rechelaschepe, Myȝth do the craft schert worschepe. 1596Raleigh Discov. Guiana 47 We made but a short breakfast aboord the Galley in the morning. c1610Women Saints 80 Short and simple food. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 12 Some cottons here grow; but short in worth to those of Smyrna. 1662Greenhalgh in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. IV. 282 Many short meals. 1668in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 72 We conceive the said certifycate to be short and expect that the same in that point be supplied. 1681J. Flavel Meth. Grace xi. 242 The Law accepts no short payment. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. II. 273 Report is seldom short on the Reflecting Part. 1745P. Thomas Voy. S. Seas 3 We went to short Allowance of all Species. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. xi. 257 Our water being now very short. 1753Scots Mag. Feb. 98/1 The money..was short by 3d. 1789Bentham Princ. Legisl. xi. §24 You have detected a baker in selling short weight. 1820Southey Wesley I. 227 They had been long upon short allowance. 1831Lincoln Herald 16 Dec. 2/2 There was a very short attendance. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. iv, A Baker who has been seized with short weights. 1852Disraeli in Hansard Commons 9 Feb. 303, I cannot, however, help congratulating Parliamentary reformers on the content with which they have accepted the repast provided for them; the voracity of their appetites seems to me satisfied with very short commons. 1871Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 301 An excellent method of securing a prisoner when cord is short. 1874Short change [see fluff n.1 3 a]. 1901‘L. Malet’ Sir R. Calmady vi. vii, He's certain to take them home short money. 1908U. Sinclair Metropolis 351 Three times in a single day in another of these great caravansaries, Montague was offered short change. 1928Foy & Harlow Clowning through Life 81 Our Peanut and juice vendors were all short change artists. 1942Times Rev. 1941 3 Jan. p. v/4 There has been an exemplary pooling of machine tools and of other requisites in short supply. 1943Sun (Baltimore) 7 Jan. 24/2 The State's lawmakers are going to be on ‘short commons’ and the employes are going to be comparatively flush. 1951D. Howarth Shetland Bus xi. 150 Larsen..now found himself in urgent need of bootlaces, so he tried to take the opportunity to buy some; but they were ‘in short supply’, and he had to make do with string. 1970Observer 13 Sept. 38/5 It's shortcommons for tourists unless they're white.
b. Qualifying a n. denoting a period of time, distance, number, quantity, etc., to indicate an extent less than that expressed by the n. short ton: see ton1 4.
1702Lond. Gaz. No. 3773/2 Within a short Mile. 1842Borrow Bible in Spain xxiv, A short league distant. 1913Times 9 Aug. 19/2 Short tons.
c. Qualifying a noun of action. short delivery, short shipment (Comm.): delivery or shipment of goods less in quantity than agreed on or invoiced.
1884Weekly Notes 9 Feb. 32/1 There was a counter claim for short delivery and defective packing. 1891Olver & O'Reilly Imperial Tariff 267 A certificate of short shipment from the searcher. 1901Scotsman 13 Mar. 10/7 Loss..sustained..in consequence of short delivery of a contract for coal.
d. Said of a book which has been cut down or cropped in the binding. (Cf. tall a. 7 b.)
1864Reader No. 88. 304/3 The folio..is quite perfect, but ‘short’.
16. Of a throw, a missile, etc.: Travelling too short a distance, not reaching the mark. Chiefly in Archery and Bowls: see quots. 1801, 1897. In Cricket: see 26 d.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 36 Escheweing shorte, or gone, or eithersyde wide. 1659N. R. Prov., Eng. Fr., etc. 90 Short shooting loseth the game. 1801T. Roberts Engl. Bowman 294 Short arrow, an arrow which falls short of the mark. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 129/2 (Bowls) Short bowl, one that does not reach the jack.
17. a. short of or † short from (in predicative use, also qualifying a preceding n. or neuter indefinite pronoun): Not fully attaining or amounting to (some condition or degree); not equalling (some other person or thing); inferior to; less than (a specified number or quantity). Also, † inadequate to, not fully worthy of (obs.). Often with limiting adv. (far, little, much, nothing, etc.) or an expression of number or quantity used advb., indicating the extent of the deficiency.
In mod. use, the original adjectival character of short in this application is much obscured, short of tending to be felt as a preposition. Occasionally the word governed by of is an adj. (e.g. in quot. 1837); cf. the similar use of (little, nothing) less than.
1560Gresham in Burgon Life (1839) I. 322 If it is discovered, there is nothing short of death with the searcher, and with him who enters it at the custom-house. 1579Fulke Heskin's Parl. 125 A long saying.., but not so long in wordes, as short of his purpose. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 494 b, Having regard rather to make manifest..how much you were short yet of a true and perfect knowledge in the true doctrine of Divinitye. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. (Sommer) 172 b, Those immoderate praises, which the foolish Louer thinkes short of his Mistres, though they reach farre beyond the heauens. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 48 [Gombroon] was a dozen yeares agoe, so short from the title of a Citie, that it could not boast of twelue houses. 1665J. Sergeant Sure Footing 163 Let my Reader..see how far they are short from..even an Attempt of Evidence. 1693C. Mather Wonders Invisible World (1862) 16 It will be a thing little short of Miracle. a1700Evelyn Diary Apr. 1646, Cheese little short of the best Parmeggiano. 1747Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. 47 Disgust little short of affrightment. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. xii. 265 The Spaniards were not much short of two hundred. 1762Kames Elem. Crit. i. (1774) I. 30 Words are so far short of the eye in liveliness of impression. 1780Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 398 Phil. has been unlucky at Sudbury, as he was one short of Marriot. a1792Sir J. Reynolds in Malone Wks. (1797) I. p. xxxi, A refined taste, which could not acquiesce in any thing short of a high degree of excellence. 1801Farmer's Mag. Jan. 81 A crop, one fourth short of an average. 1806J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vi. (ed. 3) 102 Nothing short of a full gallop will save your time. 1818Byron Juan i. lxii, Ladies..Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vi. iv, And such a Constitution, little short of miraculous. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. xiv. 280 It could be compared to nothing short of the day when Israel passed through the desert. 1879McCarthy Own Times xxix. II. 401 He had everything short of genius. 1880Encycl. Brit. XIII. 194/1 Short of war, certain preliminary measures of hostility are recognized. 1892Law Times' Rep. LXVII. 199/2 Nothing short of that will do.
b. In expressions like little, nothing short of, the adj. is occas. used absol.
1838F. A. P[aley] tr. Schömann's Assemb. Athen. Introd. 7 The archons were invested with little short of kingly power. 1879B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 53 The colossal affectation of his career seems to us little short of idiocy. Mod. Little short of {pstlg}1000 will be required.
18. In predicative use, chiefly of persons:
a. Defaulting in payments.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretorie ii. (1625) 7 Divers summes wherein you were short in reckoning. 1864Hotten's Slang Dict. s.v., A conductor of an omnibus, or any other servant is said, to be short when he does not give all the money he receives to his master.
†b. Lacking in performance. Of an author: Defective in information. Obs.
a1697South Serm. III. 306 Very large in Pretence and Promise, but short in Performance. 1653Ramesey Astrol. Restored To Rdr. 25, I have endeavoured to compare one Author with another..and where one hath been short, I have inlarged with another. 1662Pepys Diary 20 June, I do perceive that I am very short in my business by not knowing many times the geographical part of my business.
†c. Below the truth in one's estimate or calculation. Obs.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. xvii. 203 In two Voyages I differ but two Leagues, and that I was short.
d. Having an insufficient supply of money, food, or something else implied by the context; spec. not having the means to meet one's engagements. to go short: to suffer privation, have less than enough.
1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 65, I am so short in cash, that I am not able to pay my workmen. 1830Galt Lawrie T. ii. ii, I have to settle for my coffee spec., and may be short. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lxiv, ‘They kept me very short,’ said the small servant. ‘..So I used to come out at night..and feel about in the dark for bits of biscuit.’ 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 306 Short, that is, in want of the necessary means to comply with his obligations. 1894G. W. Appleton Co-Respondent I. 106 I'm always short..Would a loan of 100l. be of any service to you? 1895Cornh. Mag. Dec. 603 ‘So you goes short, Sarann?’ ‘I be used to 't’, said Mrs. Bradley. 1901Essex Herald 9 Apr. 5/5 Please cash the orders I enclose:.. don't go short when you want any.
e. short of: having an insufficient quantity of. Also, not possessing, lacking (something necessary or desirable); in want of (something to complete the desired number).
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 679 Their defenceless Limbs the Brambles tear; Short of their Wool, and naked from the Sheer. 1700Farquhar Constant Couple ii. v, I am very short of Mony at present. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 33. 176 Young men, having been kept short of money at school. 1794Nelson 8 July in Nicolas Disp. (1844) l. 425 They will, from using as many again as is necessary, be soon short of that article, which probably cannot be supplied them. 1855Dickens Dorrit i. xxv, Allow me to take your hat—we are rather short of pegs. 1866Crump Banking xi. 246 As it gives rise to the opinion that he is short of funds. 1897Flor. Marryat Blood of Vampire xii, No one in this 'ouse is kept short of food. 1905E. Glyn Viciss. Evangeline 93 He might be useful to us, if we are short of a gun. 1908Westmorld. Gaz. 21 Nov. 3/2 They were short of bailiffs.
f. Preceded or followed by a n. or an expression of quantity, indicating what is lacking of the required number or amount. a shingle short: see shingle n.1 1 b.
1873Trollope Phineas Redux in Graphic 22 Nov. 486/2 He did take the key with him... We were a key short at the time he was away. 1893E. F. Benson Six Common Things 217 We are a lady short. Shall I tell her to come down to dinner? a1914Mod. The clerk was two pounds short in his cash. 1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 1 They were short one officer. 1944M. Paneth Branch Street 97 Our last warden left us... Now we were two people short. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 43 We were more than 150 short when Derek joined me at the wicket. 1977Cork Examiner 6 June 10/1 Cork..were short three of their regulars.
g. U.S. Stock Exchange. Having sold as yet unacquired stock which the seller hopes can be bought at a lower price before the time fixed for delivery. Also short of (such stock). Cf. short adv. 11.
1849Merchants' Mag. (U.S.) XXI. 118 If he does not own the stock he is ‘short’, or what is the same thing, a ‘bear’. 1865Harper's Mag. Apr. 616/2 If he has sold 500 Hudson for future delivery, expecting it to fall, he is pronounced ‘short of Hudson’. 1884A. Daly Big Bonanza 20 The market opened lively with a demand for speculative shares by those who have been ‘short’ of the leading stocks.
h. short on: having an insufficient quantity of, deficient in respect of.
1922P. A. Rollins Cowboy iii. 54 The actual ‘bad man’ was ‘short on conversation’. 1942E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 113 It's just this kind of influence these children need... They're rather short on culture at the moment. 1959Omaha World-Herald 20 Dec. d18/3 Many a gypsy, short on funds and long on nerve, is a master at avoiding inspections. 1977Lancet 13 Aug. 357/1 Dr Bartsch's comment, though interesting, is short on facts.
i. U.S. Of a race-horse, not in top form. Also in attrib. use.
1942Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 17/1 Ben would prefer to pass the Derby altogether and point his guns at the Preakners' $50,000 the following week, rather than take a chance on setting a ‘short’ horse back farther in the Derby. 1960Washington Post 23 May a22 He said..that Venetian Way was ‘short’, meaning the horse wasn't quite ready for the 11/8 mile race. 1977Time 20 June 51/2 Horsemen were quick to point out that he was slightly ‘short’—not in peak form—for the Kentucky Derby.
19. to run short.
a. Of persons, etc.: To become short of, ‘run out’ of (something). Also without const.
1752in Scots Mag. (1753) Sept. 452/1 Being run short of money. 1809Naval Chron. XXII. 189 In consequence of running short of water. 1884C. Reade in Harper's Mag. Sept. 603/1 I've purchased this cutlery in case she may run short. 1890S. Lane-Poole Barbary Corsairs i. vii. 81 Coron was running short of supplies.
b. Of supplies: To become or prove insufficient in quantity; to become exhausted.
1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. i. 143 Turnips sometimes run short. 1894Wolseley Marlborough II. 99 There was a great dearth of arms..and the supply in the Tower soon ran short.
transf.1890I. D. Hardy New Othello III. vi. 131 The time was running very short.
IV. Not tenacious in substance, friable, brittle.[Prob. connected with branch I through the notion ‘having little length of fibre’: cf. sense 3.] 20. Of edible substances: Friable, easily crumbled. Phrase, to eat short: to break up or crumble in the mouth.
a. of crust, pastry, etc. Cf. shortbread, shortcake, short crust.
c1430Two Cookery Bks. 52 Þan take warme Berme, & putte al þes to-gederys, & bete hem togederys with þin hond tyl it be schort & þikke y-now. 1594Good Huswife's Handmaid 17 b, To make short paste in Lent. 1700Congreve Way of World iii. xv. 46 You may be as short as a Shrewsbury Cake, if you please. 1888Edmondston & Saxby Home Nat. 99 A thick cake, which may be made of either flour or oatmeal, and may be rendered ‘short’ by the use of fat.
b. of fruit, meat, etc.
1648Gage West Ind. 143 This is the Venison of America, whereof I have sometimes eaten, and found it white and short. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. xix. 186 Salmons are of a fatty, tender, short and sweet flesh. 1699Evelyn Acetaria 57 The bigger Roots..should..eat short and quick. 1706London & Wise Retir'd Gard. I. i. vii. 35 Its Pulp eats short, and its Juice is sugar'd. 1856Orr's Circ. Sci., Pract. Chem. 337 Vinegar makes the meat short, short meat being easy of digestion.
21. gen. Wanting in tenacity; friable, brittle. Phrase, to work short: to break or crumble when being worked. Of metals: cf. cold-short, red-short.
1607Markham Caval. i. (1617) 57 Lest..it burne and drie vp their hoofes, making them short and brittle. 1682Grew Anat. Plants, Anat. Roots 86 All Piths and more simple Parenchyma's, break short. 1725Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Corn-land, Some mix it [dung] with Sand, which causes it to work short. 1766Compl. Farmer s.v. Mould 5 P 4/1 And this will be the better yet, if it..does not stick obstinately, but is short, tolerably light, breaking into small clods. 1800tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 139 Bismuth..renders gold short and brittle. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 300 Pure clay..affords a very short paste. 1859Stationers' Hand-bk. (ed. 2) 105 Short, the technical term for the absence of strength in paper. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining s.v., Coal is ‘short’ when of a very friable or tender nature.
†22. Of liquids: Not viscous. (Cf. long a. 4.)
1612Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xxii. (1634) 69 Let it be thoroughly dry, then take the glaire of egges, and straine it as short as water.
V. In Combination.
23. In concord with ns., forming combinations used attributively or quasi-adj., as short-arm, short-date, short-distance, short-form, short-grain (see also sense 26 below), short-haul (haul n. 1 c), short-hay, short-hole, short-leaf, short-life, short-line, short-notice, short-persistence, short-range, short-stroke, short-take-off, short-time, short-vowel, short-water.
1902Daily Chron. 3 May 8/6 As if he were going to do a *short-arm balance on the parallel bars. 1908Installation News II. 45/2 Used for concealed work, in conjunction with a screwed shortarm bend or tee.
1909Q. Rev. Oct. 358 British railways offer facilities for cheap, *short-date bookings.
1898Daily News 15 July 5/1 These *short-distance races are ruinous in their effect upon the breed of horses.
1947Sun (Baltimore) 15 May 2/8 The bill carries a new set of tables for the so-called *short-form taxpayers—those with adjusted gross incomes of $5,000 or less. 1961R. B. Long Sentence & its Parts x. 234 The Appalachians, the Rockies..are short-form phrasal proper names. 1972Accountant 19 Oct. 487/2 The position [should] be clarified by an appropriate reference in the short-form report.
1947L. P. De Gouy Gold Cookery Bk. xi. 766 There are many varieties of rice produced in the United States. They are..of three general types, long grain, medium grain, and *short grain. 1970Simon & Howe Dict. Gastronomy 326/2 Rice generally can be divided into long, medium and short grain types.
1895Funk's Stand. Dict. II. 1658/1 The interstate commerce law forbids a greater charge in the aggregate for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line..and is commonly called the long and *short haul clause. 1939Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIII. 900 This figure represents about 3 lbs. per rated h.p. of the engines, which is appreciably better than the figure for most modern short-haul air liners. 1960Times 14 Nov. 13/6 The most popular aircraft in use for short-haul work is the Bristol Freighter. 1976P. R. White Planning for Public Transport ix. 190 Increased fuel costs affect short-haul operations more radically than long-haul. 1979Arizona Daily Star 5 Aug. i. 3/1 It's mainly on short-haul trains.
1843A. R. Wallace in Life (1905) I. xiv. 208 The ‘*short-hay meadows’, as they are called [in South Wales].
1901Scotsman 8 Mar. 6/6 A *short-hole golf course in the park.
1796B. Hawkins Let. 4 Dec. in Coll. Georgia Hist. Soc. (1916) IX. 24, I..came..to oak and *short leaf pine. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 634/2 Short-leaf pine. 1969T. H. Everett Living Trees of World iv. 51/1 The shortleaf pine..is found from New York to Florida and Texas and has dark bluish-green foliage.
1966M. Woodhouse Tree Frog xix. 144 A self-contained *short-life powerplant. 1973Guardian 16 Feb. 6/1 Foods classified by the Ministry as ‘short-life’—that is with a storage capacity after packing of less than three months—would eventually all be stamped with a ‘sell by’ date. 1977Spare Rib July 40/3 (Advt.), Willing to expand the project into emergency and shortlife housing and building coops.
1941L. MacNeice Poetry of W. B. Yeats vi. 114 Yeats..is outstanding among modern poets for his mastery of the *short-line poem with three or four stresses to a line. 1974Aiken (S. Carolina) Standard 24 Apr. 1-b/1 (caption) Train enthusiast Larry Raid, Denmark, Iowa, stands on the tracks of a shortline railroad that he has rebuilt from Keithburg, Ill., to Oakville, Iowa.
1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xvii. (1893) 88 We are rather badly off for neighbours just here—at least for *short-notice neighbours.
1965Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) iv. 192 The 1·5-mil-spot cathode ray tube..produces the *short-persistence flying spot, with a sweep diameter of 10 cm. 1973Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) i. vi. 16 Short-persistence screen, of a cathode ray tube. A screen whose luminance decays rapidly after the stimulus has been reduced or removed.
1869Lowell Let. 16 July in Ogden Life E. L. Godkin (1907) II. 84 'Tis an honest old-fashioned piece of straight-forward *short-range notions and carries an ounce ball. 1900Daily News 23 May 5/6 A desperate short-range fight followed.
1838Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 394/2 The *short stroke engines are propelling the boats..faster than long stroke ones. 1921A. W. Judge Automobile & Aircraft Engines iv. 167 Tests..show that at low piston speeds the short stroke engine has a somewhat better thermal efficiency. 1977D. Bastow W. O. Bentley—Engineer xx. 337 The short stroke engine would be at least no worse off in terms of specific weight per horse⁓power.
1959Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Feb. 115/2 The Army pressed for ample supplies of vertical or *short take-off aircraft to move troops on the battlefield. 1973Lebende Sprachen XVIII. 69/1 Britain's aircraft manufacturers also have in mind a new medium size short take-off aircraft to replace the Hawker Siddeley 748.
1877Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 130 In the army they have *short-time soldiers and long-time soldiers. 1898Daily News 26 July 5/7 It was too large for such a short-time contract.
1965Language XLI. 25 We can posit for Proto-Germanic a *short-vowel system consisting of four phonemes.
1791R. Mylne 2nd Rep. Thames 20 In *short-water Time, or dry Seasons.
24. Parasynthetic derivatives in -ed2, unlimited in number, as short-armed, short-barrelled, short-billed, short-bodied, short-frocked, short-handled, short-leaved,short-necked, short-nosed, short-vowelled, etc.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 15 *Short-arm'd ignorance. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccxviii, Now a nearer Thirst Rages, and Short-arm'd Struggles makes 'em feel't. 1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1902) 35 This is a puzzler to a short-armed batsman. 1847–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 20/2 The Hydra viridis or short-armed polype.
1832J. Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 159 The *Short-barred White (Ditula scriptana)..The Short-barred Grey (D. semifasciana).
1978R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xxxi. 365 He withdrew a small, *short-barreled revolver and handed it to Tennyson.
1752J. Hill Hist. Anim. 148 The *short-beaked Purpura. 1891Moullin Surg. 1248 An instrument shaped like a short-beaked lithotrite.
1835–6Owen in Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 292/1 The *shorter-billed birds. 1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 88 Short-billed Marsh Wren.
1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1257/4 A brown bay Gelding,..strong made, *short bodied. 1877Huxley Anat. Inv. Anim. vi. 366 In the short-bodied Lœmodipoda.
1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872) I. 22 *Short-breasted coats.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 425 Botys cucullatalis. The *Short-cloaked Moth.
1751G. Edwards Birds IV. 248 The *Short-eared Bat.
1820Scott Monast. Answ. Introd. Ep., The *short-faced president of the Spectator's Club. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1872) 15 Compare the English carrier Pigeon and the short-faced tumbler.
1915G. Frankau Tid'apa ii. 17 Perched sideways, *short-frocked, on the mattress, he thought her a child in the gloom. 1933Dylan Thomas Let. Nov. (1966) 52 My only sister passed through the stages of..short-frocked flappery and social snobbery into a comfortable married life.
1622T. Stoughton Chr. Sacrif. xii. 169 Of such *short haired Gentlewomen I find not one example either in Scripture or elsewhere. 1698Phil. Trans. XX. 330 Carinated, short-hair'd stiff Pods. 1906O. C. Malvery Soul Market viii. 140 A thick-set, short-haired man.
1851H. Melville Moby Dick II. xxxvi. 241 A *short-handled sharp spade being sent up to him, he diligently searches for the proper place to begin breaking into the Tun. 1964W. L. Goodman Hist. Woodworking Tools 29 The T- axe was gradually superseded from the middle of the 14th century onwards by the short-handled version of type 3.
1715Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. ii. xii, A *short-hought man.
1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 295 This Horse..Round hooft, *short iointed, fetlocks shag, and long. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. I. 260 Cuttings are taken from the most fruitful, well-ripened, short-jointed boughs in autumn.
1748M. Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina App. p. xxii, The *short-leav'd Pine is usually a small tree. 1884Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 200 Short-leaved pine.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV. v. i. 28 A couple of *short-legg'd Hennes. 1886Dufferin in Lyall Life (1905) II. 114 Our poor little short-legged Goorkhas.
1647C. Harvey Schola Cordis x. 52 The *short-lin'd circumference Of that three-corner'd figure.
1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 66 (Remise Door), She walk'd..with the slow, *short-measur'd step of thoughtfulness.
1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. ii. 42 Having with the same liquor filled other small crystalline viols, though *short-necked. 1845Youatt Dog ii. 33 In the act of seizing the hare the short-necked dog may lose the centre of gravity and fall. 1849D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 286 The sulphide is introduced into a short-necked Florence flask. 1955Archaeol. News Let. VI. 15 Professor Piggott proposed the replacement of the alphabetical classification by descriptive terms... Classes A and C should be known as ‘necked beakers’... Abercromby..suggested that Class C—short necked beakers—was derived from Class A. 1970Bray & Trump Dict. Archaeol. 36/2 The international bell-beakers are uncommon in Britain, where they are replaced by local variants, the long-necked (formerly A) beakers of eastern England and the short-necked (formerly C) beakers of Scotland.
1693Tate Dryden's Juvenal ii. (1697) 38 In vain, O Rome! thou dost thy Conquest boast Beyond the Orcades *short-nighted Coast.
c1440Promp. Parv. 59/2 Cammyd, or *schort nosyd, simus. a1652Brome Queen & Concubine ii. iv. (1659) 31 Short-nos'd Dogs. 1681Grew Musæum i. §vi. i. 128 The Short-Nos'd Snail. 1910Blackw. Mag. Feb. 287/1 The Jumna, like all Indian rivers, is full of crocodiles both of the short- and long-nosed descriptions. 1948C. L. B. Hubbard Dogs in Britain 3 Such breeds as the Pug and short-nosed dogs.
1839T. Beale Nat. Hist. Sperm Whale Introd. (ed. 2) 7 A row of widely separated, *short-pointed, conical teeth.
1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2287/8 A bright bay, thick *short quartered. 1807W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 193 A pair of short-quartered high-heeled shoes.
1862Rem. Golf 15 The Putter..is a *short-shafted, stiff club, with a large flattish head, and square face.
1681Grew Musæum i. §vii. ii. 169 The *Short-Shell'd Beetle.
1647Ward Simple Cobler 24 To borrow a little of their [women's] loose-tongue Liberty, and mispend a word or two upon their long-wasted, but *short-skirted patience. 1901C. Holland Mousmé 40 My shortskirted, somewhat tomboy niece.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 157 When Rome was burn'd By *short-slop'd Gauls and the Senonian brood.
1575Turberv. Venerie vi. 14 The head..is more to be esteemed when it is long than when it is *short snowted. 1815Kirby & Sp. Entomol. vi. (1818) I. 177 A short-snouted weevil. 1896H. Woodward Guide Fossil Reptiles Brit. Mus. 6 The Crocodiles..are divided into a brevirostrine, or short-snouted section [etc.].
1800Shaw Gen. Zool. II. 7 *Short-spined Porcupine. 1836Yarrell Brit. Fishes I. 60 Short-spined Cottus.
1682Lond. Gaz. No. 1768/4 A *short statured Man,..broke into a House near Basingstoke.
1840Dickens Old C. Shop xlvi, Travellers jogging past on little *short-stepped horses.
1694Lond. Gaz. No. 2946/4 Flat hoofed, very *short strunted.
1874Lubbock Wild Flowers ii. 34 A *short-styled plant.
1684Lond. Gaz. No. 1910/4 A Dun coloured Mare..*short tailed. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 75 The short tailed field mouse. 1848Gould Birds Austral. VII. Pl. 39 Short-tailed Albatros.
1900H. Lawson On Track 139, I was very *short-tempered.
1598Marston Sco. Villanie i. ii, A *short term'd tenancie. 1680Otway C. Marius v. ii, The short-term'd Life Of one old Man.
1935G. O. Curme Gram. Eng. Lang. II. xii. 307 In early Modern English there was alongside of the long-voweled bete or beat the *short-voweled bett.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Autour, A *short-winged hauke. 1668Charleton Onomast. 63 The short-winged Eagle. 1687Dryden Hind & P. iii. 473 In fine, short-wing'd, unfit himself to fly, His fear foretold foul weather in the sky. 1828J. S. Sebright Hawking (1828) 46 A short-winged hawk. 1869–73T. R. Jones Cassell's Bk. Birds III. 287 Short-winged Cursorial Birds.
1653R. Sanders Physiogn. 41 The *Short wristed, cut, and dissected, signifies Weakness of Body and Minde.
25. Combinations with participles in which short is used as a complement, as short-bitten, short-cropped, short-drawn, short-growing, etc.
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. Ecl. (1598) 84 *Short-bitten grasse.
1884Birch Kouyunjik Gallery Brit. Mus. 89 The horse has a *short-cropped mane.
1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1561/4 A Sorrel Mare..her Foretop cut off, and *short Dock'd.
1816Scott Old Mort. xxxviii, She could discover by his *short-drawn sobs that it was a paroxysm of mental agony.
1889Hardwicke's Sci. Gossip XXV. 195/1 The Morello and many *short-growing varieties of similar habit.
1794Rigging & Seamanship 56 *Short-laid, implies *short-twisted.
1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 212 Men with tails..are always *short-made and broad-shouldered.
1677Lond. Gaz. No. 1170/4 A *short-truss'd Nag.
26. a. Special collocations and combinations: short-arc a. (see quot. 1972); short-arm a., (a) designating a punch thrown with the arm not fully extended; also ellipt. as n.; (b) slang (orig. and chiefly Mil.), designating an inspection of the penis for venereal disease or other infection; also ellipt. as n.; short-arse, -ass slang, a person of small stature; a person of little account; hence short-arsed, -assed a., of small stature; short back and sides, a haircut in which the hair is cut short at the back and sides of the head; also attrib.; short ballot U.S., a ballot in which only the more important offices are held up for election, the minor offices being filled by appointment; spec. (see quot. 1940); also, a form for such a ballot; also attrib.; short bath Dyeing (see quot.); † short-board (see board n. 15); short cards U.S., one of various card games played for money (see quots.); also attrib. in sing.; short chain Chem. [chain n. 5 g], a relatively small number of atoms (usu. of carbon) linked together in a line; usu. attrib. (with hyphen); short-cloak, a cloak coming down only to the elbows; short clothes, an infant's short-coats (see short-coat n. 2); also fig.; short con U.S. slang, a small-scale confidence racket; also (with hyphen) attrib.; short corner Hockey, a penalty hit taken from a spot on the goal-line up to within ten yards of the goal-posts, a penalty corner; short-cross, (a) Printing, ‘the shortest and also the broadest bar that divides a chase into quarters’ (Savage Dict. Printing, 1841); (b) Numism., a cross with arms extending only to the inner circle of the coin; also attrib.; short-cycle(d adjs. Bot., (of a rust fungus) not having a complete life cycle; short-day a., (of a plant) not flowering until the period of light each day falls below some limit; short-eat Sri Lanka, a snack; short end, (a) pl. odds and ends (cf. end n. 6 c); (b) see quot. 1844; (c) a remnant of cloth; (d) U.S. slang, the inferior part or share (of something), the losing end, a bad deal; (e) Comm. that part of a stock market which deals in short-term stocks; † short-ended a. Sc. [f. end var. of ande breath], short-winded; short-eyed a., short-sighted (in quot. fig.); short focus, a focal point that is near to the lens; chiefly attrib., esp. in short-focus lens, spec., a photographic lens whose focal length is less than the length of the diagonal of the negative or plate with which it is used; short-frock, a short garment usually worn in childhood, hence fig. in pl. habits, etc. associated with childhood; short fuse U.S. slang, a quick temper; hence short-fused a.; short game Golf, the style of golf played at the approach to and on the green; short gown, a dress with a very short skirt, worn by women engaged in house-work; also † a night-gown worn by a person of rank; also attrib.; short grain, a condition of the fibres which gives rise to brittleness in wood (cf. short-grained a.); short-grass, (a) grass grown and trimmed as a lawn; (b) used, usu. attrib., to designate the vegetation of certain prairies; short-hairs pl. U.S. slang, a name given to a branch of the Democratic Party in the Western States who show discontent with the administration; also attrib. in sing.; short head, (a) Anthropology, a brachycephalic person; (b) Racing, a distance less than the length of a horse's head; a horse that has lost by a short head; also attrib. and fig.; hence short-head v. trans., to defeat by a short head; also transf. and fig.; short-headed a., having a short head, spec. in Anthropology, brachycephalic; hence short-headedness; short heeled a., having a short heel; fig. wanton; hence short-heels, a wanton person; short horse U.S., (a) = quarter-horse; also attrib.; (b) (see sense 18 i above); short-line Rackets (see quot.); short linseed, ? a trade name for a kind of linseed-meal; short-long, (a) Med. a technical name for a variety of Cardamom; (b) an iambic verse (nonce-use); short-lunged a. = short-winded; in quot. fig.; short measure, an arrangement of the keyboard of a spinet in which advantage is taken of the ‘short octave’; short metre, a form of stanza used in hymn-writing, consisting of four lines of which the first, second, and fourth are of six syllables and the third of eight, usually expressed by the symbol s.m.; also vulgarly as advb. phr., quickly, soon; short octave Mus. (see quot. 1801); also in keyboard instruments other than the organ; short order U.S., an order for food to be prepared and served up quickly; a dish so served; also attrib.; Short Parliament, the Parliament which sat from 13 April to 5 May, 1640; short-period a., extending over or lasting for a brief period of time; recurring at short intervals; short-pipe, ? a kind of musket with a short barrel; short-punt v. intr. Rugby Football, to punt the ball a short distance; short-rest Billiards = jigger n.1 5 g; short rib, (a) a popular name for any of the lower ribs which do not attach to the sternum; also a piece of butcher's meat, esp. of pork, containing one or more of such ribs; (b) Printing, = cramp-iron 3; † short sail (see quot.); short sauce: see sauce n. 4 a; short score Mus. (see quots. 1876, 1954); short-sea(s) a., of or pertaining to short sea crossings; short-service, military service limited to a prescribed short period; also attrib.; short shorts U.S., very short drawers or trousers; briefs; † short shouldered a., thick-set; short-silk, cotton having a short staple; † short-six, (a) = six n. 3 h; (b) U.S., a type of cigar (cf. long nine); short sleeve, a sleeve which does not reach below the elbow; also attrib.; hence short-sleeved a., having short sleeves; short-snorter U.S. Mil. slang, (see quot. 1954); also, a person who collects a short-snorter; also attrib.; † short speaking, brevity in speech, ‘brachylogy’; short-spirited a., lacking forbearance or perseverance; short-splice (see quots.); short spoon Golf, a short wooden club (see spoon n. 4 c); short-staff, a short cudgel, also a contest between two persons armed with such cudgels; short-staffed a., not adequately provided with staff, understaffed; short-stage a., with short distances between stopping places; also ellipt. as n., a coach travelling in this way (obs. exc. Hist.); short staple a., having a short fibre, a commercial term applied to cotton of an inferior grade, also known as ‘upland cotton’; also absol.; short-stapled a., having a short staple (= prec. adj.; said also of wool); short stepper, a horse equally lame in all its legs; Short Street, an imaginary street where people in financial difficulty are supposed to reside; short suit Cards, a suit of which a player has few cards; also attrib.; hence short-suited a., having a short suit; also fig.; short sweetening U.S. dial., (a) cane sugar (as opposed to molasses); (b) maple sugar (as opposed to cane sugar); † Short-thigh Hist. = Curt-hose; † short-thinker, a person whose thought does not carry him far into a subject; short-title, the abbreviated title by which an Act of Parliament is officially designated; an abbreviated form of the full title of a book; also attrib.; short turn a., (of a wagon) constructed so as to turn easily in a short space; short-waisted a. (of a person or a garment) short in the waist; also † fig.; short-warp (see quot.); short-weight v. trans., to give short weight to (see sense 15 a) (U.S.); short whist: see whist n.3 a; † shortwindiness = short-windedness; short-wise adv., in the shortest direction; short-witted a., lacking intelligence.
1955Sci. News Let. 27 Aug. 136/2 Use of xenon and platinum eliminates the usual warm-up period required before today's signaling searchlights can be used. The bulb, called a *short-arc mercury-xenon lamp, was developed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. 1972Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) iv. iii. 14 Short-arc lamp, discharge lamp in which the distance between the electrodes is small (of the order 1 mm to 10 mm).
1906‘H. McHugh’ Skiddoo! 10 To the Bury Little Bunch of Newspaper knockers who have so assiduously plied hammer and harpoon since this series began, I want to say that 575,000 John Henry books were sold up to March 1st, 1906. There is your answer, O Beloved of the *Short Arm Jab! 1911J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 11 Billy bats Some stinging short-arms in my slats. 1919in Wine, Women & War (1926) 307 Short arm inspection between vomits. Doctor sicker than patients. 1953Sun (Baltimore) 5 Jan. (B ed.) 12/5 At the Gay street station you are taken to the second floor for a brief physical check, the army ‘short-arm’, given in this case to see if anything has turned up since your preinduction physical. 1975C. Allen Plain Tales from Raj xv. 159 Periodical medical checks, known as ‘short arm inspections’, ensured that any man who availed himself of the ‘tree rats’ or ‘grass bidis’ was properly dealt with. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xl. 450 Before you go to bed with a guy, give him a short arm... You strip down his penis, you know, like you're masturbating him, and if there's a yellow fluid coming out like a drippage, you know he's infected.
1706*Short-arse [see spud n. 4]. 1949D. M. Davin Roads from Home 212 That little shortarse tried to report him. 1962H. Hood in R. Weaver Canad. Short Stories (1968) 2nd Ser. 203 ‘Now this Pearson,’ said one of the revellers, ‘he's just a little short-ass. He's just a little fellow without any brains.’ 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 54 ‘What's her real name?’ I implored. ‘Jean.’ ‘Oh. The short-arse? Yeah, she's all right. Boring dress.’
1951Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 4) 1168/2 *Short-arsed, (of a person) that is short. 1962Canadian Jrnl. Linguistics Autumn 49 Short-ass(ed). 1973M. Amis Rachel Papers 114 He was a short-arsed little bastard—about five-five.
1965M. Allingham Mind Readers xxii. 241 A bony young man who..wore ‘*short back and sides’. 1972N. Bentley Events of that Week 72 The gents, in tweed caps or with their silvery short-backs-and-sides exposed to the unrelenting sun. 1974‘G. Black’ Golden Cockatrice v. 81 Mr Long favoured short back and sides hair-cuts for his personnel. 1982Observer 16 May 4/3 Bejeaned teenagers seemed to outnumber the elderly short-back-and-sides ‘sweats’.
1909R. S. Childs in Outlook 17 July 638/2 On such a *short ballot basis the entry of our best men into public life becomes possible. 1914Cycl. Amer. Government I. 104/2 A short ballot is any voting paper which requires the selection of only a few important candidates. 1940Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. Oct. 955 The term ‘presidential short ballot’ is applied to the ballot form in which the names of candidates for presidential electors are omitted, and only the names of the candidates for president and vice-president appear. 1952R. Rienow Introd. to Government iv. xix. 362 A suggested reform would limit the offices upon which people vote to those which..have a broad policy-making function. The plan is called the short ballot. 1968Economist 27 July 33/3 As for the electors themselves, they could scarcely be more anonymous. In fact, thirty-five states have abandoned any attempt to tell the voters who they are. Instead these states only use what is called ‘the short ballot’.
1911Encycl. Brit. VIII. 753/1 ‘*Short bath’, i.e. a bath containing a minimum amount of dye liquor.
1644H. Manwayring Seaman's Dict. 13 A *short-boord, is when you stand-off but little. 1772–84[see board n. 15].
1845J. J. Hooper Some Adventures Simon Suggs 134 Thar never were a peaceabler or more gentlemanlier game o' *short cards played. 1876Scribner's Monthly May 45 It is worthy of a short-card sharp and a keno flopper. 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 105/2 Short card player, a gambler who plays all card games well except draw poker. 1938H. Asbury Sucker's Progress 286 Short card games predominated, the favorites being Brag, Poker, Seven-Up and Whist. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §743/1 Short-card player, a poker player, esp. a cardsharp.
1940Jrnl. Dairy Sci. XXIII. 1054 The *short chain fatty acids are by products of this synthesis. 1961Lancet 12 Aug. 343/1 There was a high content of short-chain acids and unidentified long-chain..acids in the cholesterol esters. 1972Jrnl. Chromatogr. LXXIV. 335 Measurement of short-chain fatty acids in various biological materials is becoming increasingly important in the physiology and taxonomy of microorganisms and in the dairy, food, and beverage industries.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iv. iv, ‘In his rustic farmer-clothes’; which he will wear always; careless of *short-cloaks and costumes.
1816E. Weeton Jrnl. of Governess (1969) II. 140, I have been..making *short-clothes for Mary... I think of having her weaned in a few weeks. 1843C. Ridley Let. Nov. in Cecilia (1958) xii. 138, I believe it is much better for children to be put early into short clothes if they are well. 1921J. Buchan Path of King xii. 246 He held that the country had grown up and couldn't be kept much longer in short clothes.
1932Detective Fiction Weekly 6 Feb. 126/1 Little tricks known as the ‘*short con’. 1948Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 667 Short-con workers operate on a modest scale, and are usually content with whatever money the victim has on him at the time he is rooked. 1965H. Gold Man who was not with It viii. 67 This was better than..any of the other short-con moments of which Grack had told.
1967J. Potter Foul Play i. 10 His team had failed to score from the resulting *short corner. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 2 Nov. 22/5 Yateley..reduced the arrears from a short corner.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ix. §6. 35 [The Chase] hath two Crosses belonging to it, viz., a *Short-Cross..and a Long-Cross. 1870Henfrey Eng. Coins ii. 23 Not many years ago there was much discussion whether these ‘short-cross pennies’, as they were called, belonged to the last coinage of Henry II, or the first issue of Henry III. 1904Stainer Oxf. Silver Pennies (O.H.S.) 55 Short cross voided, each limb terminating in incurved segment of a circle.
1915H. C. Travelbee in Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. 1914 231 We note the teliospores of a *short-cycled rust appearing on the æcial host of a long-cycled heterœcious rust. 1926Short-cycle [see macrocyclic a. 1]. 1950E. A. Bessey Morphol. & Taxon. Fungi xii. 396 Another anomaly in the life cycle of a short-cycle rust. Ibid. 397 In most of the short-cycled rusts studied..it has been shown that the mycelium is of monocaryon type until the telium or aecium is formed, when dicaryon cells appear.
1920Garner & Allard in Jrnl. Agric. Res. XVIII. 559 It will be convenient to use the expressions ‘long day’ as meaning exposure to light for more than 12 hours and ‘*short day’ as referring to an exposure of 12 hours or less. Ibid. 576 It [sc. Aster linearifolius] is a typical ‘short-day’ flowering perennial. 1947Sci. News IV. 129 By and large, short day plants flower if they receive 8–9 hours of light a day, and long day plants flower if they receive 14–16 hours of light a day. 1980Sci. Amer. May 105 (caption) The cocklebier is a short-day plant and will flower only if it receives at least 8·5 hours of continuous total darkness each day.
1962Housewife (Ceylon) Feb. 25 (Advt.), Order your:—*Short Eats..Cakes & Pastries From Grosvenor Caterers. 1971Times Weekender (Ceylon) 3 Oct. 4/7 She wanted to go to a creamery and after looking at the short-eats on display, ordered a special bun.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 252 Certen ryche men..had packed up theyr *short endes, & were gonne out of the Citie. 1635in Foster Crt. Min. E. Ind. Comp. (1907) 95 What Gosnell may have brought home in ‘short ends’ he knows not. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 489 Lengthening the plough-chains by short-ends, that is, short pieces of chain, which are hooked in a similar manner. 1860Short end [see balk n.2]. 1904Ade True Bills 14 Each Partner naturally believed that he was getting the Short End of the Arrangement. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §371/2 Lose,..get the short end. 1960Lebende Sprachen V. 35/1 Left-overs, remnants, short-ends. 1964Financial Times 10 Feb. 9/1 A fair business was done in temporary funds in the Local Authorities loans market last week. Rates tended to move erratically at the short end. 1976Scottish Daily Express 24 Dec. 12/1 At the short end of the market prices were clipped by {pstlg}1/8. 1977Time 8 Aug. 28/2 Annie went back to Broadway on the short end of a 6–2 score. 1979E. Newman Sunday Punch xxiii. 205 You're getting the very short end of the purse.
1595Duncan App. Etym. (E.D.S.), Anhelus, pursie, or *short-ended.
1721Southerne Loyal Brother i. i, No, no, Arbanes, no; thou'rt *short-ey'd here.
1845Encycl. Metrop. IV. 408 Another..method is to substitute for the sun its image formed in the focus of a convex lens of *short focus. 1862Illustr. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Industr. Dept., Brit. Div. II. No. 3154 The same camera can be used for either short-focus portrait or long-focus landscape lenses. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 580/2 The sun's image formed by a lens or burning glass of short focus is our best mode of attempting to realize the conception of a luminous point. 1935Discovery Jan. 25/1 The picture [sc. the oldest existing photograph] was taken on sensitised paper, probably with a small short-focus camera having a large-aperture lens. 1973Focal Dict. Photogr. Technol. 559 Short focus lenses of normal angle are used in macrophotography at natural size or larger scales of reproduction.
1885Kipling in Pioneer 27 Jan. 5/2 Clad in *short frocks in the West, Are you growing the charms that shall capture and ravish the heart from my breast? 1900G. Swift Somerley 37 The literary short-frocks of Jules Verne and Henty.
1968N.Y. Times 13 Oct. iv. 10 Tully, a fellow notorious around Sausalito for his *short fuse. 1980G. Thompson Murder Mystery xix. 149 Postel's first-rate but he's got a short fuse. You lie to him..and he'll walk off your case.
1979Observer 16 Dec. 9/1 He's quite *short-fused, but he knows how to control his temper.
1858Chambers's Jrnl. 4 Sept. 157/2 The ‘*short game’—coming into play when the ball lies from a hundred to one hundred and fifty yards from the hole. 1903H. G. Hutchinson et al. Bk. Golf iv. ii. 238 Treat the combination of mashies (sometimes irons) and putting together, calling it the short game. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 386/2 Short game.., the aspect of play in which control of relatively short shots (as approach shots or putts) is of primary importance.
1473Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 13, j½ elne of blac to lyne a *schort gowne to the King. 1489Ibid. 135 For xj elne of rede dammysk to lyne a lang gowne and the schorte gowne..xxij li. 15..Christ's Kirk 34 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 283 Sa schamefully his schort goun set him. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. x, Her brown russet short-gown set off a shape, which time, perhaps, might be expected to render too robust. 1851[see long-short s.v. long a. 18]. 1861J. Brown Horæ Subs. Ser. ii. 132 Her bright young careless face, her tidy shortgown, and her dark eyes.
1947J. C. S. Brough Timbers for Woodwork iv. 30 *Short grain means that the fibres lie in such a direction that the timber may snap or fracture with practically no splintering. 1956F. W. Jane Struct. Wood xi. 254 Where this type of grain occurs it is clearly impossible to produce lumber which is straight grained—the wood must, inevitably, have short grain and suffer from the defects associated with such a structural peculiarity.
1826Cobbett Rural Rides (1885) II. 52 *Short-grass very neatly kept. 1916Jrnl. Ecol. IV. 49 This Bouteloua mixed consocies, representing the most radical departure from the typical short-grass, really differs mainly in the possession of a derived element. 1929Weaver & Clements Plant Ecol. xvii. 401 The short-grass plains extend over areas in western Nebraska and include much of the western half of Kansas, eastern Colorado, [etc.]. 1961Listener 7 Sept. 346/2 The short-grass plains of the Serengeti.
1867Ball Players' Chron. 4 July 2/1 Being assisted by their brutish followers of the *short-hair grade, they generally manage to make large hauls of plunder. 1875Nation 1 Apr. 218 A very real division of the Democratic party in this city into two sets of politicians known familiarly as ‘Short Hairs’ and ‘Swallow Tails’—the former comprising the rank and file of voters, and the latter ‘the property owners and substantial men’. 1886Chicago Tribune in Barrère & Leland Slang (1890) s.v., They did not resign, as had been hoped by the short-hairs. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. App. 642 Dudes and roughs, civil service reformers and office-holding bosses, short-hairs and college presidents. 1894Stead If Christ came to Chicago 36 Mayor Hopkins was elected by the silkstockings on the one hand and the shorthairs on the other.
1883J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 107 Fancy him having that horribly anathematized ‘*short head’ all his own and in hand to do as he likes with—to revile it, and punch it. 1892Athenæum 3 Dec. 781/3 The long-headed race kept up a desultory warfare with the short-heads for many years. 1898A. E. T. Watson Turf 133 There are legends of judges having made mistakes in short head verdicts. 1922Weekly Dispatch 12 Nov. 7 Danny caught him napping and shortheaded him on the post. 1932A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms vii. 55 Teckla took the lead on the straight and won by a short-head from Bomba II. 1935N. Mitchison We have been Warned i. 55 She successfully short-headed a wool merchant for the bath. 1963J. Prescot Case for Hearing iii. 44 The favourite was beaten on the post... I was short-headed out of a fiver. 1976Ld. Home Way Wind Blows xiii. 186 Had these two pulled their weight, I have no doubt at all that our short-head defeat would have been converted into a narrow victory, and a win at that time for the Conservative Party could well have smashed the Socialists. 1977Irish Times 8 June 2/1 Frozen Tiger beat the flying outsider, Poppy Fields, by a diminishing short head.
1802Shaw Gen. Zool. III. 170 *Short-headed Toad. 1854A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 68 Short-headed Serpents. 1863Lyell Antiq. Man 26 It exhibits..a type..which is intermediate between the long-headed and short-headed form.
1883Academy 17 Mar. 190/1 That Turanian admixture is the cause of relative *short headedness must for the nonce be relegated to the background.
1591? Nashe Wond. Strange Prognost. B 1 b, Some shalbe so *short heeld & so quesie stomackt, that [etc.]. 1600Surflet Country Farm ii. xlix. 322 This kind of meate [apples of love] is good for such men as are inclyned to dallie with..short heeld huswiues. 1785Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Short heeled Wench, a girl apt to fall on her back. 1839Macgillivray Brit. Birds II. 188 Short-heeled Field Lark.
1599Porter Angry Wom. Abington (Percy Soc.) 35 Mistresse flurt, yon [sic] foule strumpet, Light a loue, *shorte heeles!
1922Breeders' Gaz. 24 Aug. 212/4 There is little doubt he came from Southern Illinois, the home of many well-known ‘*short-horses’. 1971Amer. N. & Q. Apr. 127/2 They..have had many and strong infusions of thoroughbred blood through the years, but not such that the prized short horse characteristics were lost.
1898Encycl. Sport II. 244/2 (Rackets) *Short-line, the line on the floor at the distance of about 39 feet from the front wall and parallel to it.
1726Act 13 Geo. I, c. 26 §2 Any Lintseed commonly called or known by the Name of *Short Lintseed.
1871Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 333 Cardamoms are distinguished according to their lengths by the respective names of shorts, *short-longs, and longs. a1881O. W. Holmes Old Vol. Life ix, The first two in iambics, or short-longs.
a1687‘Auson’ On Elegy to Cleveland 4 in C.'s Wks. 279 Elegiacks..too *short-lung'd to parallel thy Fame.
1911Encycl. Brit. XXI. 562/1 Three and two-third octaves, E to C—which by the ‘*short measure’ would be four octaves, C to C.
1718*Short metre [see common a. 19 b]. 1848Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ii, Ef it worn't fer wakin' snakes, I'd home agin short meter.
1801Busby Dict. Mus., *Short-Octaves. An appellation given to some of the lower octaves of an organ, because from the omission of some of the intermediate notes, the extreme keys lie nearer to each other than those of the full octaves. 1880Grove Dict. Mus. II. 588/1 In the short octave two of the natural keys were omitted, and the succession stood thus:—CC (on the EE key), FF, G, A, B, C. 1961A. C. Baines Musical Instruments through Ages iv. 77 The earlier instruments [of the harpsichord family] very generally had a ‘short’ or ‘broken’ octave in the bass. 1980Early Music Apr. 215/1 In my own field of keyboard instruments, the important questions used to be how the jack mechanism worked and how the short octave was tuned.
1906‘O. Henry’ Four Million 103 The clatter of steel, the screaming of ‘*short orders’, the cries of the hungering and all the horrid tumult of feeding men. 1927Amer. Speech II. 414/1 The nomenclature of the short-order restaurant. 1928S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge i. 31 We plan to have a restaurant there serving short-orders twenty-four hours a day. 1956J. Potts Death of Stray Cat vii. 75 Working..as a short-order cook in his diner. 1978J. Updike Coup (1979) iv. 137, I..worked as waiter and short-order cook in various eating establishments.
1653Cromwell Sp. 4 July in Carlyle (1845) II. 188 The state of affairs as they were before the *Short, that is the last, Parliament. 1884Gardiner Hist. Eng. IX. xci. 117 The Short Parliament..had sat for three weeks.
1887Encycl. Brit. XXII. 509/1 *Short-period fluctuations between a maximum and minimum, within the limits of each single stroke [of a piston]. 1895Knowledge 1 May 111/2 There is no longer any reason to doubt that all ‘short-period variables’ are really close binaries. 1900Ibid. 1 Dec. 285/2 Brorsen's Comet... This interesting short-period comet. 1923P. B. Ballard New Examiner 107 For..an overwhelming majority, short-period testing, when properly carried out, is as sound and as valid as long-period testing. 1962L. S. Sasieni Optical Dispensing viii. 195 A second pair of lenses for special purposes, or for short-period use. 1967Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 128 Such a rise is a normal aspect of the short-period low-amplitude, climatic oscillations of the Holocene epoch.
1844Queen's Regul. Army 99 For *short-pipe 3d.
1937C. Day Lewis Starting Point i. iii. 48 The next time he received the ball, he *short-punted ahead. 1954J. B. G. Thomas On Tour 184 Morgan was half through before he short-punted.
1910Encycl. Brit. III. 935/2 The ‘*short rest’ (or ‘jigger’).
1592Timme Ten Eng. Lepers K 3 b, Joab..stabbed him under the *short ribbes, and killed him. 1769E. Bancroft Guiana 242 A little below the short ribs. 1912Standard 20 Sept. 8/7 Bacon, Short Rib Sides.
1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, *Short Sails, in a Man of War, are the same with the Fighting-sails, and are the Fore-sail, Main-sail, and Fore-topsail.
1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 388/2 A *short or compressed score is when all the parts are arranged or transcribed so that they shall appear in two staves... In transcribing four-part music into short score, the two upper parts are arranged in the treble stave. 1946A. Hutchings in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Music xvi. 207, I do not think that, even now, Rubbra finds it easy to bring off the orchestration conceived in his mind's ear while writing his ‘short score’. 1954Grove's Dict. Music (ed. 5) VII. 765/1 Short score, a term meaning either (a) a condensation of a vocal or instrumental full score for pianoforte or organ for use at rehearsal or (b) a composer's first draft of a full score in which a large orchestral lay-out is reduced to a few staves. 1980Early Music July 414/3 The collection is most unusual in that it..has..a fully notated ‘short-score’ keyboard accompaniment.
1952J. W. Day New Yeomen of England iii. 40 The bargemen were a race apart, born and brought up to the *short-seas trade. 1966Guardian 28 Feb. 16/7 The coastal and short-sea container services. 1976Daily Tel. 9 Sept. 1/2 All cross-Channel and short-sea vessels crewed by union members will be affected immediately the strike starts.
1882E. W. Hamilton Diary 19 Nov. (1972) I. 361 What struck him [sc. Mr. Gladstone] most was the magnificent appearance of the line regiments—an unanswerable proof against the charges of *short service. 1897Daily News 9 Feb. 6/3 A sufficient short-service home army, and a really effective reserve force. 1905Arnold-Forster in Parl. Deb. 29 Mar. 1582 If we were allowed to take the Militia and make them the short-service Army.
1946Sun (Baltimore) 24 Apr. 7/2 ‘What are briefs,’ asked Senator Millikin... Cheney dug into his satchel, came up with a pair, and waved them at Millikin. ‘Oh,’ said the senator. ‘*Short shorts.’ 1964[see Jamaica b]. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 2 July 2-a (Advt.), Coordinate your tops with shorts from the great selection of short shorts cuffed or uncuffed and jamaica length shorts.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 549 He was *short sholdred, brood, a thikke knarre.
1870Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. ii. (1872) 200 Cottons may be divided into the long silk and *short silk. Ibid., The United States generally furnish the short silks in the greatest quantity.
1831H. J. Finn Amer. Comic Ann. 219, I wus drest all in white, and lookt like a *short-six goin to be dipt. 1838W. E. Burton Burton's Comic Songster 188 Give me some short six's. 1843[see six n. 3]. 1865C. F. Browne A. Ward: his Trav. 57 Tom Slink, who used to smoke short-sixes and get acquainted with the little circus boys. 1885Pioneer 19 Aug. 5/1, I buy me not twelve-button gloves, ‘short sixes’ eke, or rings. 1890J. Jefferson Autobiogr. 146 The very cornerstone of Juliet's balcony contained twenty pounds of the best ‘short sixes’.
1639in Rec. Governor & Co. Massachusetts Bay (1853) I. 274 No garment shalbee made wth *short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arme may be discovered. 1847Dickens Dombey (1848) xxxv. 354 Mrs Skewton..in a very youthful costume, with short sleeves. 1931Mod. Woman Feb. 46 Length of short sleeve seam, 41/4 ins. 1969Sears Catal. Spring/Summer 11/1 Short sleeve tops in windowpane printed plaid. 1976Lady's Mag. Dec. 564/2 Short sleeves in small plaits.
1839C. Brontë Caroline Vernon in W. Gérin C. Brontë (1967) viii. 133 [A] *short-sleeved frock, worked trousers and streaming sash that would better have suited the age of 9 or 10 than that of 15. 1973D. E. Westlake Cops & Robbers 7 With the heat the way it was, I was glad the Police Department let its people wear a short-sleeved shirt in the summer.
1944Sun (Baltimore) 1 May 13/5 A ‘*short-snorter’ made up of 18 pieces of currency. Ibid., The short-snorter fellowship consists of persons who have flown over salt-water. Its ‘membership card’ is a piece of currency signed by other short-snorters. 1954Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Ther. Slang (ed. 2) §896/1 Short snorter, an autograph list on a string of attached bills, usually of the currency in the countries visited. 1976R. M. Stern Will ii. 15 On the study wall in a plain wood frame were the connected, signature-scrawled dollar bills..called short-snorters, or some such silly name. ‘They were the in thing,’ his father had told him... ‘You carried them with you..and got as many signatures as you could... If there ever was a reason, I've forgotten it.’
14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 568/35 Braciologia, a *shortspekynge.
1647Trapp Comm. Epist., Marrow Gd. Authors 672 If God should be as *short spirited, what would soon become of all? 1673J. Janeway Heav. Earth (1847) 149 God is not like short-spirited man.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) N n 1, The *short-splice is made by untwisting the ends of two ropes, or the two ends of one rope, and, having placed each of the strands of one..in the interval between two strands of the other, to draw them close together; and then interweave the strands of one into the alternate strands of the other.
1858Chambers's Jrnl. 4 Sept. 157/1 The names of the wooden-head clubs..*short-spoon. 1901Encycl. Sport II. 459/2 The long spoon, mid spoon, short spoon and baffing spoon..are now rarely seen, having been supplanted by the brassy, and the modern irons and mashies. 1970F. C. Avis Golf Dict. 196 Long spoon, the No. 3 wood; short spoon, the No. 4 wood.
1775Sheridan Rivals iv. i, A bout at boxing, quarter-staff, or *short-staff.
1953K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxxiv. 334, I should get my patients to bed. They're very *short-staffed. 1968‘M. Carroll’ Dead Trouble ii. 27 They've got a room but they're short-staffed. I said we'd take our cases up. 1977J. Sherwood Honesty will get you Nowhere i. 16 Matron..was short-staffed, at her wits' end to keep the place going.
1837Dickens Pickw. xxxii. 339 Numerous cads and drivers of *short stages. 1903W. Gilbey Early Carriages & Roads 56 It seems..certain that the year 1662 saw a great increase in the number of ‘short stages’—that is to say, coaches running between London and towns twenty, thirty, forty miles distant. 1963Times 24 May (London Underground Suppl.) p. vi/4 Local transport in and around the Metropolis was by short-stage carriages, which ran from point to point (usually an inn). 1969J. E. Tuffs Essex Coaching Days vii. 63 Spreading out from London in all directions was the net-work of short-stage coach routes.
1802J. Simons Let. 15 Dec. in Steele Papers (1924) I. 341 *Short Stable [sic], or Green seed Cotton if the best Quality, 16 cents. 1858Homans Cycl. Comm. s.v. Cotton 437/2 The ‘Georgian’, or ‘short-staple’, is [believed to be] the sea-island [variety of cotton] carried into the interior. Ibid. 438/1 The short staple cotton is more or less cultivated all the way from the southern borders of Virginia, to the southwestern streams of the Mississippi.
1834McCulloch Dict. Comm. s.v. Cotton (ed. 2) 436 [Cottons] are usually classed under the denominations of long and *short stapled. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 126 Short-stapled, or cloth-wool, is valued by the fineness..and whiteness of its fibres.
1836Head Home Tour 101, I perceived him to be what is technically called ‘a *short stepper’.
1920in Further Lett. from Man of No Importance (1932) 79 Soldiering is an honourable but not a profitable profession, and landed property is apt to land the owner in ‘*Short Street’. 1938Daily Tel. 25 July 9/1 She was finally unable to help Wilde, then penniless, for his defence: and having lived in ‘Short Street’ myself, I quite understood.
1876A. Campbell-Walker Correct Card p. xiii, *Short suit, one of which you hold originally not more than three cards. 1893‘L. Hoffman’ tr. Hertefeld's Game of Skat 8 As..a suit consists of seven cards only, three or more constitute a long suit; and two or less a short suit. 1931E. Culbertson Contract Bridge at Glance 43 With an Ace, a King, or honours not in sequence in one or two suits, and a worthless doubleton or a singleton in the third suit, lead the short suit. 1964Frey & Truscott Official Encycl. Bridge 499/1 The short-suit lead is also indicated when there is a bidding inference that this is partner's suit.
1935Auden & Isherwood Dog beneath Skin ii. ii. 82 Hullo, you *short-suited? Here, let's see your hand. 1940C. Woolrich in Ellery Queen's Magicians of Mystery (1976) 281 Did I say she was beautiful? Double it in spades, and you're still short-suited.
1850Quincy (Illinois) Whig 19 Nov. 2/2 He put..all the money she had in *short sweetening, and left her without a cent. 1883[see long sweetening s.v. long a.1 18]. 1914B. T. Washington Selected Speeches 218 This good lady asked whether we wanted long or short sweetening in our coffee. 1948E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 291 ‘Short sweetening’, or maple sugar, was also obtained in its raw state from the trees.
1596Drayton (title) The Tragicall Legend of Robert Duke of Normandye surnamed *Short Thighe.
1711Shaftesbury Charac. III. 302 They..being necessitated thus to become *Short-thinkers, are contented to go no further than they are led by those to whom..they apply themselves for Cure and Comfort.
1869Act 32 & 33 Vict. c. 42 §1 marg., *Short-title. This Act may be cited..as The Irish Church Act, 1869. 1892Act 55 Vict. c. 10 §2 The Short Titles Act, 1892. 1896in A. H. Chester Dict. Names Minerals 1 (Advt.), Short-Title Catalogue of..Publications... Arranged under subjects. 1945–51D. Wing (title) Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America.., 1641–1700. 1978Amer. N. & Q. XVI. 151/1 The short-title lists..ought to be based on meticulous bibliographical descriptions.
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2188/4 Lost.., a *short turn Waggon.
1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 46 Collars, light and *short wasted cuirasses and backes. 1592Nashe Strange Newes M 1 b, This thy short-wasted Pamphlet. 1756C. Smart tr. Horace, Sat. i. ii. (1826) II. 21 But..she is low-hipped, short-waisted [L. brevi latere], with a long nose, and a splay-foot.
1851H. Melville Whale lx, The *short-warp—the rope which is immediately connected with the harpoon.
1932T. S. Stribling Store vii. 73 It is much mo' dangerous to accuse a white man of *shawt-weightin' you when he ain't 'an when he is. 1952Sun (Baltimore) 8 Apr. (B ed.) 30/5 Many Harford county coal dealers apparently are short-weighting their customers. 1977Time 7 Nov. 72/3 A leading Catholic contractor short-weights the church.
1545T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 116 The cough: and distillation of the heade: *short wyndynesse [etc.]. 1562Turner Baths 8 b, They are good..for shortwindines.
1865Daily Tel. 22 Aug. 6/5 The bullocks' half of the square..is divided *shortwise, by the wooden barriers to which I have alluded.
1477Norton Ordin. Alch. vi. in Ashm. 93 All *short-witted Men and mutable. a1656Hales Golden Rem. (1688) 255 Piety doth not require at our hands, that we should be either short-witted or beggerly. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 9 The more pitiable asthma of a short-witted intellect.
b. In names of animals, as short bill, a Brazilian bird, Phibalura flavirostris; short diodon, a species of sunfish, Cephalus brevis; short-eared owl, a light-coloured owl flecked with brown or black, Asio flammeus flammeus, distinguished by short ear-tufts and found in Europe, northern Africa, and North America; short-hair, one of a breed of short-haired cats; also attrib.; short-head, a name given by sailors to the young of the whale; short-sheep, a name given to a short-woolled sheep of the black-faced Scotch variety; short-tail, (a) a bird of the genus Pitta; (b) a name given to a small family of snakes, Tortricidæ, found in India and America; short-wing, a diving bird of the group Brachypteri.
1820–1Swainson Zool. Illustr. i. Pl. 31 Phibalura cristata. Crested *Shortbill.
1776Pennant Brit. Zool. III. 115 *Short Diodon... Sun-fish, from Loo.
1766T. Pennant Brit. Zool. I. 71 The *Short eared Owl..is found in the mountanous [sic] wooded parts of our island. 1833Jardine Humming-B. 50 The short-eared owl. 1974Times 20 Mar. 18/4 Twenty short-eared owls have settled on a Humber nature reserve.
1903Ladies' Field 7 Nov. 347/1 Woodkirk Prince was pronounced the best *short-hair in the [cat] show.
1903F. Simpson Bk. Cat vii. 99 The ranks of short-hair breeders.
1725Dudley Whales in Phil. Trans. XXXIII. 257 At a Year old, when they are called *Short heads, they are very fat.
1805Forsyth Beauties Scotl. II. 155 The black-faced sheep are short-legged, [etc.]. Hence they are often called *short sheep, in contradiction to the Cheviot, which are much longer bodied. 1816Scott Bl. Dwarf i, ‘Aweel, aweel, maister,’ said the attendant, ‘short sheep had short rents, I'm thinking.’
1792tr. Buffon's Nat. Hist. Birds III. 373 The *Short Tail. 1879E. P. Wright Anim. Life 395 The Short-tails are a small family [Tortricidæ], the species of which are about six in number.
1839Jerdon in Madras Jrnl. Lit. & Sci. X. 250 Black-headed *short wing. 1865T. R. Jones Anim. Creation 459 The Short-wings (Brachypteres) exhibit considerable relationship with the Water-hens.
c. In names of plants or vegetable products, as † short-neck, a variety of pear having a rounded form; † short-shank, † -start, a variety of apple having a short stalk (so short-started adj.); short-top, a kind of radish; also attrib.; (so short-topped adj.).
1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 295 The Rosewater Pear, the *Shortneck, so called from the shortness of its Form and Tail.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Cour-pendu, Pomme de cour-pendu, the *short-start, or *short-shanke; (an excellent apple). 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 294 The Short-start, the Chesnut Apple, and the Great Belly are in many Places Apples of esteem.
1600Surflet Country Farm i. xii. 56 After the head beginneth to be ill, to eate one or two *short started apples, or some bitter almonds.
1786Abercrombie Gard. Assist. Dec. 335 Radishes.—sow a few early *short-tops. Ibid. Jan. 6 Radishes—sow early short-top kinds on warm borders, in open weather.
1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 653 The *short-topped scarlet [radish] is the best for a cottage garden.
d. In Cricket: short ball, a ball which pitches short of a length (see length n. 10); short hit, a ball which when hit does not travel far from the wicket; short leg (see leg n. 6 c); short notch = short run (b); short pitch, the pitch of a short ball (q.v.); short slip (see slip n.3 14); short square (leg), a square leg standing close in to the wicket; short stop = short slip (see also in Baseball, below). In Baseball: short field, that part of the field in which the short stop plays; also, = short fielder; short fielder, short stop (see quots.); also fig.; see also in Cricket, above.
1911Encycl. Sport. (Cricket) I. 495/2 *Short ball, a ball which pitches too far from the batsman to be a good length.
1856Spirit of Times 6 Dec. 229/1 Adams, as *short field has for many years, been deservedly distinguished. 1948N.Y. Times 25 Apr. 51/6 Jack Conway was shifted to the short field. 1961J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 397 Shortfield,..area around shortstop position, between second and third bases.
1857Spirit of Times 18 July 309/3 He is a splendid *short fielder. 1874H. Chadwick Base Ball Man. 27 The Short Fielders. In the present position of the game there is but one ‘short-stop’, and he stands to the left of the in-field between the second and third base positions. Ultimately however, a ‘right-short’ will be introduced.
1833J. Nyren Young Cricketer's Tutor (1902) 76–7 John Small..was the best short-runner of his day, and indeed I believe him to have been the first who turned the *short hits to account.
1843‘Wykhamist’ Pract. Hints Cricket, (caption) *Short leg or Middle On. 1851J. Pycroft Cricket Field x. 191 Short-leg is often a very hardly used personage, expected to save runs that seem easy, but are actual impossibilities. 1877,1894[see leg n. 6 c]. 1963Times 14 Jan. 8/3 Jarman over-balanced in pushing the first ball he received to forward short leg.
1774Laws of Cricket in Lillywhite Scores & Biogr. (1862) I. 17 If the strikers run a *short notch, the Umpire must call No Notch.
1877Box Eng. Game Cricket 457 *Short Pitch, in this the ball has a greater parabola than the half volley.
1860Baily's Mag. Aug. 364 Willsher, too, made a rare catch at *short square leg. 1963Times 1 May 4/5 (caption) M. J. K. Smith (M.C.C.), at short square leg, ducks as P. J. Sharpe (Yorkshire) hooks a ball from J. A. Flavell during the match at Lord's yesterday. 1977Sunday Times 30 Jan. 30/4 He made it strike like a snake and Fletcher was caught at short square.
c1837W. Martin Bk. Sports vi. 104 Order of the Players... 4 Long stop. 5 *Short stop. 1857Spirit of Times 25 July 324/3 Second Nine Fahys, pitcher;..Smith, short stop. 1860in H. T. Peters Currier & Ives (1942) Pl. 162, I thought our fusion would be a ‘short stop’ to his career. 1874Short-stop [see short-fielder]. 1875Encycl. Brit. III. 406/2 Latterly [at Base-ball], an additional man has been introduced as right short-stop. Ibid. 407/2 The catcher, pitcher, first and third basemen, and short-stop comprise the in-field; the remainder the out-field. 1877London Soc. XXXI. 533/1 Dorrington was almost as good at cover as Hillyer was at short-stop. 1912Australasian 6 Jan. 21/2 Hobbs..was caught at short-stop by Carter. 1950Nature Mag. Mar. 131/2 A sudden lunge with the net will often cut off its escape. If the net misses, a lucky shortstop may nab the lizard in passing. 1977Time 8 Aug. 28/3 Andrea played shortstop and first base. 1978Verbatim Feb. 2/2 If a batter hits safely between the shortstop and second, or second and first, the announcer will call that ‘a seeing-eye base hit’.
e. Comm., as short bill, a bill having less than ten days to run; short-exchange, exchange having a short time (commonly thirty days or less) to run; also the rate for collecting short bills; short-loan, a loan repayable at an early date; short-money, money to borrow or to lend upon short-time loans; short-paper, short bills; short-payment, payment at any early date after the completion of a transaction; short price, a low price (in Betting, low odds). Also, designating or pertaining to transactions in which a seller sells stock or goods that he does not at the time possess (cf. senses A. 18 g and C. 11), as short operation, short position, short sale, short selling, short side; short covering, the buying in of stock or goods to cover a short sale; short interest (see quot. 1900); short market (see quot.).
1808Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) II. v. 175, I will get him a *short bill for the copy-money the moment Constable returns. 1861Goschen For. Exch. 86 The discount, which has to be deducted from the long bill before it can become equally available with the short bill. 1912Times 19 Dec. 16/4 The Bank of England, which did a fairly large business in short bills at the official minimum.
1930Daily Express 22 May 2/6 In late dealings the downward trend was more pronounced, but finally sporadic *short covering resulted in some improvement from the day's levels. 1937Sun (Baltimore) 17 Feb. 15/5 Steels, after putting on a draggy performance during the morning, whittled down part of the early losses with the aid of what brokers described as short covering. 1973Times 13 July 21/8 Prices by now were really moving. Record after record was smashed. Massive short covering helped to keep prices on the boil.
1866Crump Banking vii. 154 Between Paris and London the *short exchange is the most prominent.
1866Comm. & Fin. Chron. III. 75/2 During the week a moderate *short interest has been drawn out by the dullness of the market. 1900S. A. Nelson ABC of Wall St. 159 Short interest, that interest in the market which is represented by the aggregate sales of men who have sold at a price with the expectation of buying in at a cheaper price. 1949Time 30 May 73/1 By mid-May, the short interest had risen 130,058 in a month to 1,628,551 shares.
1865Standard 2 Sept. 2/1 The terms for *short loans in the early part of the day were 2½ to 3.
1900S. A. Nelson ABC of Wall St. 159 *Short market, an oversold market, with the aggregate contracts for the delivery of stocks exceeding the supply at a certain range of prices.
1865Standard 2 Sept. 2/1 A variety of parcels of *short money afloat. 1899Truth 23 Feb. 477/2 Short money is quoted at from 11/4 to 2 per cent.
1870J. K. Medbery Men & Mysteries Wall St. 202 A sale profit either in a ‘long’ or ‘*short’ operation.
1912Times 19 Dec. 19/5 Sterling exchange has ruled strong for *short paper at 20 to 35 points advance in posted rates.
1884Times (weekly ed.) 10 Oct. 13/2 Corn for long payments; bread for *short payments.
1931Daily Express 22 Sept. 2/1 Short selling in the present circumstances would demoralise the market. Consequently all *short positions carried must be reported in detail each day.
1638Cotton Tower Rec. 15 Security of payment at a long day and a *short price. 1856H. H. Dixon Post & Paddock viii. 126 He was a fine large horse..and was purchased as a yearling, for a short price. 1885Field 7 Feb. 157/2 Although quoted at so short a price, Mineral Water [a greyhound] has not been backed by his owner.
1870J. K. Medbery Men & Mysteries Wall St. 175 With..realizations upon *short sales, Jerome felt rich enough to dissolve partnership. 1911Amer. Year Bk. 1910 385/2 All of these bills were directed against the use of ‘options’, ‘short sales’, and transactions in ‘futures’.
1930Daily Express 23 May 2/6 *Short-selling in Case Threshing Machine, which declined more than 18 points, was an unsettling factor. 1966‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept iii. 71 We find..fantastic spectacles which, like short-selling, are, as the late Otto Kahn stigmatised that operation, ‘inherently repellent to a right-thinking man’.
1902A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden xviii. 139 He bought and sold on the *short side for cash and sold on the long side for credit.
B. quasi-n. and n.
I. The neuter adj. used absol.
1. With prepositions, forming adverbial phrases.
a. in short (also Sc. † at short): briefly, concisely. From the 18th c. onwards used only as parenthetical phrase, introducing or accompanying a summary statement of what has been previously said. † in short and plain: briefly and plainly.
c1386Chaucer Clerk's T. 521 He tolde him point for point, in short and playn. 1513Douglas æneis xi. x. 79 Thus said he, and with sic wordis at schort Mesapus to the fycht he did exhort. 1556Lauder Tractate 266 Att schorte, ȝe daylie do aduert To serue ȝour God with faithfull hert. 1575Badger in Gascoigne's Kenelworth Castle Wks. 1910 II. 93 Though haste say on, let sute obtaine some stay,..While that in short my state I doe display. 1660Barrow Euclid Pref. (1714) 1, I shall here explain it to you in short. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. v. i, Upon philosophical Disquisitions or Experiments, or (in short) upon some such other thing as seems extrinsecal to the Doctrine that is according to Godliness. 1666C'tess of Warwick Diary 19 Aug., I overslept myself in the morning, and was fain only in short to recommend myself to God for that day. 1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 413, I shall not think much to tell you in short what I think. 1748Chesterfield Let. to Son 17 May, And, in short, [they] put themselves in every attitude but the right. 1833H. Martineau Fr. Wines & Pol. iv. 61 These were, in short, the Orleans mob. 1846Dickens Cricket on Hearth ii, The Blind Girl..never knew that Tackleton was Tackleton, in short. 1847C. Brontë J. Eyre xi, Nothing in short was wanting to complete the beau ideal of domestic comfort. 1907J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 13 In short, my object is to instruct those who desire to become photographers.
†b. in short (? also Sc. at short): in a short time, quickly. Obs. (The Sc. example may belong to sense a.)
1513Douglas æneis ii. xli. 82 Quhen na hoipe of reskew at schort is, My purpose I left, obeyand destanye. Ibid. iii. ix. 36 Gif that I perishe it is ȝit sum confort That I of mennis handis deis at schort. c1550Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 584 His kin and freindis, and Father but mercie Was put at schort till exterminioun. 1560― Seven Sages 12 And sa at schort the barne delyuerit he. 1599Sir J. Harington Nugæ Ant. (1804) I. 276 For want of th' artillerie, whiche coulde not arrive in shorte, the same beinge onlie drawen by the force of menne.
c. for short: as an abbreviation.
a1845Barham Ingol. Leg., Blasphemer's Warning, Father Dick—so they called him for short. 1870J. White Sk. America 284 He's Attorney-general for Colorado, and we call him ‘general’ for short. 1896M. W. Hungerford Lonely Girl i, Carrig Castle—The Castle, as it is called ‘for short’ by the peasantry.
2. the short: the total, the result, upshot; a brief summing up of something which has been previously explained in full. Now only dial. (Cf. the long and the short, long n. 3). † short is: ‘to speak briefly’, ‘the short of the matter is’.
a1586Answ. to Cartwright 2 This is the short of M. Harrisons longer discourse. 1607S. Collins Serm. (1608) 181 The short of it is, my deere brethren, though the Papists bee troublesome, yet the Puritans must not looke to goe vncontrolled. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, cccxliii, Short is: the Sheriffe of Yorkeshire by his Power Attach't the Earle if it may be exprest Soe, to his Office. 1674Govt. Tongue viii. 147 The short is, wherever this game is plaied there is alwaies a fool in the case. 1694Norris Refl. Locke's Hum. Underst., etc. 51 The short of Mr. Lock's reasoning in that part is this [which follows]. a1761Law Comf. Weary Pilgrim (1809) 75 The short is this: the kingdom of self is the fall of man. 1777Wesley Wks. (1872) XI. 398 The short of the matter is this. 1804M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) II. 162 This is the short of the story. 1874L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. v. 165 The short on it's this.
3. Phr. to draw short and long: to draw lots by means of straws, etc. of different lengths.
1870Morris Earthly Par. III. 287 We shared the spoil by drawing short and long.
II. n.
4. Something that is short.
†a. Mus. A short note. short and long (see quot. 1597). Obs.
1591Cockaine Treat. Hunting (Roxb.) D 3 b, To blow to seeke. Two windes: The first a long and a short, the second a long. Ibid. D 4 b, One short conteineth three quauers. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 78 The first is called short and long, when we make one note alone and then two of the same kinde bound togither, and then another alone.
†b. Dancing. A short step. Obs.
a1652Brome City Wit iv. i, Your traverses, Slidings,..Closings, Openings, Shorts, Turns, Pacings, Gracings.
c. Prosody. A short syllable. longs and shorts: see long n. 5.
a1795S. Bishop Poet. Wks. (1796) II. 194 With longs and with shorts all our heads are so full. 1837C. P. Brown Sanscrit Prosody 3 A foot of four shorts.
d. ? The narrow part (of a boat).
1800Hull Advertiser 15 Nov. 4/3, I..tied them round the short of the boat.
e. Electr. = short circuit. (Cf. short v.2)
1906Daily News 27 Jan. 7/5 In technical language, there was a ‘short’. 1909Installation News III. 80/1 Strange to say, it is a very rare thing for a dead short to occur on a good earthed pipe system.
f. = something short, short drink (see A. 14 a).
1823Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. Egan), Short, a dram unlengthened by water. ‘I'll take a drop of short.’ 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 52 Saveloys, with a pint of beer, or a glass of ‘short’ (neat gin) is with them another common week-day dinner. 1898Henley Lond. Types, Bus-driver, He arrogates a special taste in short. 1953Word for Word (Whitbread & Co.) 32/1 Short, a colloquial name for a gin or whisky drink, usually taken before a meal. 1973J. Wainwright Touch of Malice 89, I wouldn't have thought..you were a beer man. I'd have said shorts. 1978R. Barnard Unruly Son xvi. 176 There was a man and his wife... Didn't talk much, just sat and drank shorts. 1980G. Mitchell Whispering Knights i. 7 They only drank shorts... Gin, and doubles at that.
g. A contraction of a name or phrase.
1873L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) vi. 53 We..have names for some of our relations... Uncle Tum and Aunt Kitty are Tumbo and Kitginx. Of course these names we never tell anybody..but only use them as shorts. 1879Grove Dict. Mus. I. 332/2 Change..the word used as the short for change of key or Modulation. 1885Athenæum 31 Oct. 567/3 ‘Nuttie’ may be a local contraction for ‘Ursula’, though we should hardly have supposed that the name was common enough..to have its own ‘short’. 1914H. Stretton Alone in London iii. 28 Dolly was the short for Dorothy, and in early times he had often called his wife by that name. 1920Black's Domestic Dict. 28/2 Bouquet is the short for ‘Bouquet garni’.
h. In the Morse code, a dot (opp. ‘long’); a short buzz, etc., sounded as a signal.
1875, etc. [see long a.1 B. 4 b]. 1978P. Niesewand Underground Connection 91 Ziad pressed the bell for flat 23, two shorts, a long and a short, and waited for the entrance buzzer to sound. 1978J. H. Bentley in Islands (N.Z.) Aug. 79 ‘I was waiting for the proper knock,’ I said. Three shorts, one long.
i. A short story or article.
1912E. A. Parry What Judge Saw xiv. 245 For many years I wrote dramatic criticism and reviewed books, and wrote ‘shorts’ and occasionally full-dress leaders for the Manchester Guardian. 1937D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon xiv. 297 That was a special effort. Three five-thousand-word shorts at forty guineas each for the Thrill Magazine. 1965Listener 10 June 873/1 How many ‘shorts’ appear in comparable circumstances in this country today? Two dozen a year? The others have to make their bows between hard covers.
j. U.S. slang. A street-car; a car.
1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 76 Short,..a street car. Derived from the limited extent of a street car ride compared with the distances negotiable by railroad transportation. 1932Literary Digest 9 Apr. 36 Short, an automobile, used especially in the phrase ‘hot short’, for a stolen car. 1961‘D. Shannon’ Ace of Spaces vi. 70 This perfectly good almost brand new Caddy I got for him, a present, an' he says he can't handle it..comes back with this piece of old junk, my God, pickin' up a thing like—stickin' me with a hot short to get rid of! 1975W. McCarthy Fourth Man i. 26 Everybody brings him hot cars..shorts, we get up north, he fixes 'em up and then sells 'em.
k. Mil. A shot that falls short of its target.
1922[see ladder n. 3 c]. 1969I. Kemp Brit. G.I. in Vietnam vii. 150 We were watching the shells bursting among them when a ‘short’ exploded right in front of us.
l. A short film for cinema or television.
1929N.Y. Times 20 Oct. ix. 8 Shorts, short, audible pictures. 1930Times 26 Mar. 14/2 The production of several multilingual talking pictures and a series of talking comedy ‘shorts’. 1935Life & Letters Sept. 195 This film is actually an advertising short. 1961Sunday Express 2 Apr. 19/6 A half-hour ‘short’..made by a brand-new director. 1980A. Cornelisen Flight from Torregreca i. 19 A young actor, who was in town making a television short.
m. U.S. A pair of shorts (see B. 7 d).
1936Institute News (Underwear Institute, N.Y.) 15 Dec. 11/2 The knitted trunk short has done very well indeed. 1956Amer. Speech XXXI. 109 A short (a pair of drawers). 1974State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 28 Mar. 2-a (Advt.), Western jean short with pockets and belt loops in navy cotton denim.
5. Comm. A broker who sells more stock than he has in his hands at the time of sale, intending to take advantage of a possible drop in prices to obtain the remainder.
1849G. G. Foster N.Y. in Slices 19 Some wild-looking ‘short’..rushes down and hysterically inquires of his obliging neighbour, Mr. Smith, whether he hasn't a few hundred over. 1881Chicago Times 4 June, The May deal in white mixed [corn] is not yet settled, the shorts refusing to pay the closing price. 1891Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 27 Nov. 6/4 Some outside short was badly rattled. 1913Daily Mail 31 Mar. 3/5 A sharp ‘squeeze’ of shorts in March contracts by spot houses.
6. Baseball. = short stop (see A. 26 d).
1856Spirit of Times 4 Oct. 86/1 The Eagle Club now made a very judicious change by placing..Mr. Place as short, which effectually prevented their opponents from making any more such scores as was done in the first innings. 1897Outing May 203/1 Chandler at short is being very hard pushed. 1967C. Potok Chosen i. i. 34 The first one hit a single, and the second one sent a high fly to short, which Sidney Goldberg caught without having to move a step. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 14 Aug. 6/5, ‘I try to imagine what I'd throw to get the guy out,’ says Stone. ‘You know, to get him to ground out to short or something.’
7. In various uses of the pl.
a. A mixture of the bran and coarse part of meal.
1765Museum Rust. IV. 402 Neither grains (drains), peas, barley, gurgins (shorts),..grew thereon. 1793Washington Let. Writ. 1891 XII. 389 Now, if the midlings, ship stuff, shorts and bran does not amount to this difference, all short of it is loss. 1856P. Thompson Hist. Boston 722 Shorts, the finer sort of bran left in coarse flour. 1868Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 439 Poor pastures, poor meadows, hay, and a few shorts or cob-meal.
b. Rope-making. ‘The toppings and tailings of hemp, which are dressed for bolt-ropes [etc.]... The term is also employed to denote the distinction between the long hemp, used in making staple-ropes and inferior hemp’ (Crabb Technol. Dict. 1823).
c1790Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VI. 175/1 A large machine for spinning shorts or backens into candlewicks.
c. Short whist. (See whist n.)
1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. II. 9 It was suggested that a rubber of shorts would be extremely seasonable. a1874Pop. Author's Miseries in Casq. Lit. V. 109/2 My father-in-law abhors me because I play shorts.
d. Trousers reaching only to the knees or higher (orig. knee-breeches). In the U.S. also spec. underpants. rowing shorts: short drawers worn by oarsmen; similarly football shorts.
1826Disraeli Viv. Grey i. iii. 7 Another..wanted to act the ghost, which he proposed doing in white shorts and a nightcap. 1837Dickens Pickw. xlvii, The gentleman who condescended to appear in plush shorts and cottons for a quarterly stipend. 1859Habits of Gd. Society iii. 150 You may dress like a bargee, in shorts and grey stockings. 1865Princess Alice Mem. 7 June (1884) 100 Uncle Louis received us in shorts! 1913Blackw. Mag. Apr. 520, I..stood outside in football ‘shorts’, nailed boots and sweater. 1927Amer. Speech II. 278/1 Shorts, athletic trousers. 1933Sun (Baltimore) 29 Sept. 14/3 Too long has man..allowed himself to be made miserable by a summer garb which is anything but summery. We thrill to the bold challenge issued by A. Van Dyke.., ‘Shorts for men!’ 1941B. Schulberg What makes Sammy Run? x. 253 He was stripped down to his silk shorts. 1965H. Gold Man who was not with It i. 6 He..plucked a tricksie in shorts as she wiggled by. 1973G. Robyns Wimbledon xx. 137 In the thirties Wimbledon abounded in beauty... Eileen Bennett..was the girl who dared to wear shorts for the first time in public. 1974Caribbean Contact Mar. 10/5 Bishop's wife came to my hotel and reported that her husband had spent the night in his ‘shorts’ (or underwear)..after being stripped.
e. Short clothes.
1836Marryat Midsh. Easy iii, Six months passed in these innocent amusements, and then he [the baby] was put into shorts.
f. Cuttings of tobacco.
1840Marryat Poor Jack xv, Two penn'orth of pigtail and a paper of shorts. 1883Dodge in Rep. 10th Census U.S. III. iv. 27 When a manufacturer desires to sell his shorts, clippings, [etc.]..to another manufacturer, he is required to apply to the collector..stating..the kind and quality of tobacco he wishes to sell.
g. What is ‘short’ or lacking. (a) Printing. ‘The copies that have been or should be reprinted to make full a deficient edition’ (Cent. Dict.). (b) That amount of stock which a broker who ‘sells short’ needs to cover his deficiency. (c) Mining. (See quot. 1886.)
1868Territorial Enterprise (Virginia, Nevada) 11 Feb. 3/2 We believe..this rise is attributable to ‘cornering’ of the ‘shorts’ below. 1886J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 60 Shorts, term applied to the amount that the sum of Lordships in one year is under the minimum or fixed rent payable. 1901Munsey's Mag. XXV. 433 He could easily take in his shorts at seventy-five.
h. Comm. Short-dated securities.
1932Manch. Guardian 28 Jan. 15/1 The ‘shorts’ are all due for repayment at par at various dates between 1933 and 1936. 1940Economist 13 July 48/2 If the above sequence of interest rates reveals an artificially wide gap, it is between the yields on medium shorts and the irredeemables. 1963H. D. Berman Stock Exch. (ed. 4) v. 40 U.K. Government loans with less than five years to go to the final redemption date (known as ‘shorts’) are always dealt in plus accrued interest. 1980Times 15 Jan. 14 Gains of up to {pstlg}2 were seen in long gilts and of up to 5/8 in shorts.
C. adv.
1. Of a manner of speaking: Briefly, concisely, curtly. Now rare in educated prose use.
a1300Cursor M. 8347 Bot elles scilwisli and scort he tald þat him lai apon hert. c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 890 This, shorte and pleyne, þeffect of my message. 1575Gascoigne Kenelworth Castle i. i. Wks. 1910 II. 108 Then Engistes lande as Chronicles do write Now England short, a land of worthy fame. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 277 Bistleham, now called short, Bisham. 1681R. L'Estrange Tully's Offices 96 Now to speak short and plain. a1715Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 328 He spoke short, but with life. 1729G. Adams tr. Sophocles, Oedip. Colon. ii. ii. II. 121 How short and seasonable thou speakest this? 1859Tennyson Elaine 882 Then if the maiden..spoke, he answer'd not, Or short or coldly.
†2. to set short by, to tell short of: to hold in low estimation. Obs.
1377[see set v.1 91 e]. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 194 For wolde they..dryve out the dagges and all the Duche cotis, And sette hem a-side, and scorte of hem telle.
3. a. For a brief while. Obs. in the positive.
1611Mure Misc. Poems i. 54 Lyk to a blooming meadow, Quhose pryd doth schort remaine. c1730Ramsay Wyfe of Auchtermuchty i, But schort the storm wald let him stay. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts III. 307 Resinous woods, like the pine, last much shorter than the oak.
†b. In a brief space of time, soon. Obs.
1556Lauder Tractate 30 Thir kyngs yai ar bot kyngs of bane; And schort wyl heir yare tyme be gane. 1590Satir. Poems Reform. xix. 47 With schot of gunne yai murdreist him fra hand, Schort ouer twa yeiris quhen he had rung in deid. 1643Orkney Witch Trial in Abbotsford Club Miscell. I. 178 And shortefter, the said Annabell Murray contractit ane lingring disease.
4. a. In various uses relating to size or distance: With short garments, appendages, etc.; to a short distance.
1706Lond. Gaz. No. 4212/4 When he trots out he over⁓slips, and is shod short before for it. 1847Infantry Man. (1854) 8 On the words Step Short,..each recruit will step as far as the ball of his toe, and no farther. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 153 The..bolts are driven short. 1887Gunter Mr. Barnes xi. 76 A plain, round-faced girl..big enough to be sixteen, and dressed short enough to be eleven.
b. to break, snap (etc.) short (off): to break straight across, so as to leave nothing beyond the plane of fracture; to break off close to the point of attachment.
1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. vii. 124 It may cut or brake it short asunder. 1709Steele Tatler No. 48 ⁋2, I..pretended that I had broken my Wooden-Leg..but I snap'd it short off on purpose. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 145 The Gloucester's..Fore-top-mast broke short. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. 1808 V. 401 This weapon will snap short. 1850Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. xii. (1859) 178 His first effort broke it short at the lock. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 212 He broke almost every tooth short off upon this chain, in his furious efforts to bite it through. 1865Milton & Cheadle N.-W. Passage by Land ii. (1867) 31 We..saw..great trees blown down, or trunks snapped short off. 1898Blackw. Mag. Jan. 17 Her wheel stood in the corner with the thread snapped short in the heck.
5. a. Abruptly, suddenly: esp. in phrase to turn short (round).
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 24 Dogs..drinke running [in the Nile] lest they bee snapte short for a pray too Crocodiles. c1643Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 83 Finding that I had almost overtook him, he turned short. 1666Lond. Gaz. No. 55/4 The wind coming short upon them off of Scheveling, they were forced to put back. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 360 Such Waggons as seldom have occasion to turn short, as Carriers Waggons, and such like. 1815Scott Guy M. xli, Bertram turned short round upon Glossin at the distance of two yards only. 1841Dickens Barn. Rudge xl, ‘You catch me up so very short.’ ‘You will be caught up much shorter, my good friend—infinitely shorter—one of these days.’ 1888Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. iv. 434 After a considerable pause, the Provost turned short round.
b. to take (a person) short. (a) To take by surprise, at a disadvantage; to come suddenly upon; esp. Naut. (of wind or bad weather), or colloq. (in passive) to have an urgent need to urinate or defecate.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1560) 100 He spent once a groate at good ale, being forced through companie, and taken short at his worde. 1584B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 77 b, They were suddenly surprised and taken short by a company of little dwarfes. 1609Bible (Douay) 2 Macc. viii. 26 But they returned being taken short with the time. 1691Lond. Gaz. No. 2674/4 The Wind taking them short..they came to an Anchor in Torbay. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal II. i. ii. 10 [He] was taken short after dinner, and died in his chair! 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 302 Our Prince Regent has his chaplains..amounting to several scores in number; so that he can never be at a loss. He can never be taken short. 1823New Monthly Mag. IX. 113/1 They may have been taken short by the climate before reaching the Pacific. 1837Dickens Pickw. lii, I wos took up wery short by this, Samivel. 1890Funk's Stand. Dict. s.v., To be taken short (colloq.), to be pressed with the need of evacuation of feces. 1928R. Campbell Wayzgoose i. 30 'Tis Nature's whim that dogs, when taken short, Still to the loftiest monument resort. 1967‘J. Ashford’ Forget what you Saw xx. 180 Simon was in such a terrible state of nerves that he had already been taken short twice and had to rush for the lavatory. 1977Private Eye 11 Nov. 10/2 Taken badly short when on his way to work, and finding that both of the public lavatories in Putney were closed, Mr. Peter Herring entered a police station and asked if he could use their convenience.
(b) To interrupt with a reply; not to allow to complete his speech or offer explanations. Often with up.
1565Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 228 If M. Harding had not taken S. Ambrose vp so short, by the words that immediately follow, he might well haue knowen his meaning. 1586Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. ii. 17 in Holinshed, Sir, you take me verie short. a1647Pette in Archæologia XII. 257 His majesty, taking it ill that my lord should [etc.]..took him short with a sharp reprehension. 1711Addison Spect. No. 34 ⁋3 Sir Andrew Freeport took him up short. 1815Scott Guy M. xxxv, But, my dear sir, you take me so very short. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. xiii, ‘But bless ye, my beauty!’ cried Mrs. Boffin, taking him up short at this point.
†6.
a. At close quarters, closely, tightly. to fight short: to engage in a hand to hand struggle. to ride short: to ride with a tight rein. Obs.
a1530J. Heywood Play of Wether (Brandl) 487 Byr lady these knauys muste be tyed shorter. 1600Holland Livy vii. x. 255 A light footman's shield he takes unto him, and a Spanish blade by his side, as being more handsome to fight short and close. 1689T. R. View Govt. Europe 54 They undertook likewise to loosen his power, or tye it up short. a1700Evelyn Diary 24 Jan. 1682, They [Moors] rid very short, and could stand upright at full speede.
†b. to hold or keep (a person) short [= F. tenir court]: to press (him) hard in a contest; to keep rigidly confined or under strict discipline; to keep from something; in later use, to keep (a horse) tightly reined in. Obs.
c1425? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1307 ‘Kepe hym short’, he seyde, ‘tyll hys lust be spent.’ 1470–85Malory Arthur ix. xxx. 385 And euer sir tristram held them passynge shorte, and euer sir Bleoberys was passynge besy vpon syre Tristram. 1530Palsgr. 597/2 Lette men holde hym very shorte... If youth be nat kepte shorte it wyll be marred anone. 1565Cooper Thesaurus, Cohibeo..to keepe shorte. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 12 The king helde them so short, that in processe of tyme they were faine to yelde. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Convers. (1586) 131 b, They perswade themselues, that if they doe not keepe them [their wives] short, they keep them not as they ought to doe. 1600Surflet Country Farm Table, Girles must be kept short. 1632Bp. Hall Hard Texts Luke vi. 25 The time shall come wherein ye shall bee held short of all worldly comforts. 1674J. Flavel Husb. Spirit. iii. 216 Oxen for use are daily yoaked and kept short, whilst those that are designed for the shambles are let loose to feed at pleasure. 1792Osbaldistone Brit. Sportsm. 416 When your horse attempts to be vicious..hold him very short.
7. a. On the hither side of the point aimed at or contemplated. Also, † lagging behind, in the rear (of). Const. of. † to lie short: to pass the night at a place short of one's journey's end.
c1588in Defeat Sp. Armada (Navy Rec. Soc.) I. 13 The next morning..there was a great galleon of the Spaniards short of her company to the southwards. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 67 Three miles short of the great Citie. 1644Symonds Diary (Camden) 49 The foot army lay short of the hill all night. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 14 Coming to the same Point and Degree where she [the moon] was in Conjunction with the Sun last, she is short of the Sun. 1676Marvell Mr. Smirke 24 Another Exposer..would rather have turn'd out of the Road, and lay'd short all night somewhere by the way. 1684Norris Poems 35 I'm flush'd with silent joy, and smile to see The Shafts of Fortune still drop short of me. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 130 He met me..in a Garden short of the Town. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 21 He came to an anchor short of us. 1751E. Haywood Betsy Thoughtless IV. 309 He had lain the night before eight miles short of Sir Ralph's seat. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 180 Ford frequently hit short. 1862Chamb. Encycl. III. 320/1 Misconception of this may lead to overthrowing the ball, or throwing it short. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! xiv, There's not such a piece in London;..nor short of Calicut, where it came from. 1888Daily News 7 Sept. 5/2 The trout has ‘risen short’.
b. to fall short (of): see fall v. 97, 98. Hence falling short, a failure in attainment, a deficiency.
a1680T. Goodwin Govt. Ch. Christ vi. xii. Wks. 1697 IV. iv. 402 His Disciples..had..great fallings short. 1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ix. Poet. Wks. (1904) 539/1 Shine out for two, Aurora, and fulfil My falling-short that must be!
c. to stop short of: not to go the length of (some extreme action).
1818Scott Rob Roy xii, I had but just stopped short of insulting the beautiful..being by whom it was proffered. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vii, But stop short of any compunction for the people who would lose the same.
8. to come short.
†a. To arrive too late. to come short of: to arrive too late for, or later than.
1569W. Forrest Joseph i. in Grisild the Second (Roxb.) 167 To aske their [sc. Gower and Chaucer's] counsaylles I came all to shorte. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 116 Remembring that this morning..I hied me out thinking that if I had staied for you, I should haue come short. 1646Suckling Aglaura v. i, After't, like a man that's come too short o' th' ship And's left behind upon the land. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 177/1 If any [Monk] come short to Prayers or his Meat, he is to stand apart by himself.
†b. To be ‘taken short’, be taken by surprise.
c1611Chapman Iliad v. 553 Lions..Rush out, and prey on sheepe, Steeres, Oxen; and destroy mens stals, so long that they come short, And by the Owners steele are slaine.
c. To be imperfect or inadequate.
1579W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love B i b, They will all comme to short in their reconing. 1589Puttenham Engl. Poesie iii. ix. (Arb.) 169, I consider..how short the Latines come to expresse manie of the Greeke originals. 1601Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 176 Your reputation comes too short for my daughter, you are no husband for her. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iv. §12. 23 In arts Mechanicall, the first deuiser coms shortest, and time addeth and perfecteth. 1677Milton P.L. viii. 414 To attaine The highth and depth of thy Eternal wayes All human thoughts come short, Supream of things. 1690Locke Hum. Underst. ii. xi. §11 A faculty which we see Beasts come short in. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. 121 Even those who come short in other ways may justly plead the valour with which they have fought for their country.
d. to come short of: (a) to fail to reach (a standard); not to equal in some quality; to be something less than, not to amount to; † (b) not to extend to (a place) (obs.); † (c) to fail to get; also, to lose; (obs.).
1570Dee Math. Pref. 2 Surmountyng the imperfection of coniecture..; and commyng short of high intellectuall conception. 1587Harrison England ii. i. 139/1 in Holinshed, Some bishops, &c. in our time doo come short of the ancient gluttonie & prodigaltie of their predecessors. 1611Bible Rom. iii. 23 For all haue sinned, and come short [Gr. ὑστεροῦνται, Revised Version fall short] of the glory of God. 1623Lisle ælfric on O. & N.T. To Rdr. 33 Giotto came far short of Dominico. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 30 Whatsoever beareth the similitude of any other thing, must of necessitie come short of the thing it doth resemble. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 346 He comes short of none for bravery. 1696Whiston Theory Earth ii. (1722) 181 I cannot well perceive how this Proposition comes short of Physical Demonstration. 1745Pascoe Jrnl. 196 The Chinese come far short of us in the Magnificence of their Houses. 1889Swinburne Study B. Jonson i. 6 [They] came short of the triumph which might have been theirs.
(b)1615G. Sandys Trav. 217 The higher mountaines now comming short of the sea, do leaue a narrow leuel between.
(c)1632Lithgow Trav. ix. 420 Who Religiously feast upon the Corps of their aged Parents..for indeed the Wormes come short among the dead Tartars of their foode. 1690W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 412 My Master is like to come short of his wife.
†e. to come short home: to return from an expedition in reduced numbers or with loss of men. Hence, to be missing on the return of an expedition; to fail to return. Obs.
In the first quot. perh. = to reach home too late; cf. sense a above.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 175 b, The erle of Warwicke had come to short home, to tel these tidynges if the duke of Excester..might haue had his awne will. 1577F. de L'isle's Legendarie G iv, Fiue of them came short home, and the most doulte of all remained behinde. 1677W. Hubbard Narrative (1865) II. 93 Many of the young Men..did, Sundry of them, come short Home. 1713J. Warder True Amazons 54 And will venture in, tho' they come short home. 1721De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 189 He had not always..success in these enterprises; for sometimes we came short home.
9. to cut short [= F. couper court (where court is uninflected as adv.); cf. A. 1 i]: to put a sudden end to (a person's life or career, a course of events, an action, speech, etc.). Hence, to stop (a person) abruptly in a course of action or speech; to interrupt and not allow to proceed. Also rarely † to disappoint (a person) of something.
1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 12 Rather then bloody Warre shall cut them short. 1647Ward Simple Cobler 15 The Rule..cuts the work short and sharpe. 1706A. Bedford Temple Mus. viii. 163 The Chanters did Cut their Notes Short. 1712Steele Spect. No. 534 ⁋1, I love to ask Questions when I fall into such Conversation; but I am cut short with something or other about my bright Eyes. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. v. §7 Wks. 1871 II. 179 To cut this matter short, I shall borrow an allusion to physic. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) I. 48 We may cut them short of their desires. 1780Mirror No. 88 It would be a pity to cut short a boy of my genius. 1818Byron Juan i. clxiii, Wise Antonia cut him short. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. i. i, A malady which threatened to cut short his days. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lix, An exclamation..cut the lawyer short. 1886Baring-Gould Court Royal II. xxx. 78 The young man cut her short with—‘You may go’. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 114 His reverie was cut short by the castle clock striking a quarter to five.
10. to breathe short: to take short breaths.
1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. iv, She looked pale and breathed short.
11. to sell short: (a) to effect a sale of stock or goods which the seller does not at the time possess, but hopes to buy at a lower price before the time fixed for delivery; (b) fig. to undervalue; to belittle.
1852Hunt's Merch. Mag. XXVI. 738 The writer of the Aurora phillipic complains of the practice of ‘selling short’. 1861in Rebellion Rec. (1862) I. iii. 27 When one of the members of the Board offered to sell Government Stock ‘short’ on time, he was instantly hissed down. 1881Daily News 1 Mar. 5/1 A speculator will sell bacon ‘short’. 1883Century Mag. July 329/1 When crude oil..goes down to fifty cents, times are hard, and nobody wears a cheerful face save the speculators who have sold ‘short’. 1936B. & S. Spewack Boy meets Girl i. 35 Larry: You can't act with a baby. They steal every scene—Law: Are you selling motherhood short? 1959Times 1 Sept. 3/5 Brown, the man who knocked out the present British featherweight champion..has been sold short before. 1972Guardian 21 June 1/2 Who, throughout the Labour Government, spent his time ‘selling sterling short’ in speeches both at home and abroad? 1974J. Cleary Peter's Pence x. 281 Domine, non sum dignus... Martin would always sell himself short. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Oct. 1194/5 It is poetry that is being sold short by such determined efforts to be funny and clever.
12. Comb., with pples., as short-breathing, short-fetched, short-lasting, short-living, short-pitched adjs.; with agent-n., as short-liver; also short-acting a. Pharm., relatively transient in effect; short-manned, insufficiently manned; short-running, (a) Coursing, of a hound or hare, running with short strides, slow in pace; (b) making short runs; short-set, of short build, stumpy; short-shipped, lacking from an intended shipment; short-spoken, laconic in speech; short-weighting, giving short weight; short-working Coursing, of a greyhound = short-running (a).
1951A. Grollman Pharmacol. & Therapeutics vi. 143 In insomnia, where there is difficulty in falling asleep, the *short acting drugs are indicated. 1978Price's Textbk. Practice of Med. (ed. 12) iii. 260/1 The short-acting barbiturates are apt to cause profound depression.
1701Rowe Ambit. Step-mother iii. i, *Short breathing sighs heav'd in my panting breast.
1612Drayton Poly-olb. i. 493 Their *short-fetcht troubled breath a hollow noise doth make.
c1400Rom. Rose 3283 The Ioye it is so *short-lasting.
a1683Oldham Charac. Old P[riest] Rem. (1684) 125 Par and John of the Times were *short-Livers to him.
1637Rutherford Lett. (1664) 372 Ye know this world is but a shadow, a *short-living creature, under the law of time.
1830Marryat King's Own xxxii, Captain M― did not like to have the frigate *short-manned.
1867G. H. Selkirk Guide to Cricket Ground ii. 36 A ball which grounds nearer the bowler than a length ball is ‘*short-pitched’. 1977World of Cricket Monthly June 32/2 Some pointless, short-pitched bowling by Imran and Sarfraz.
1855Leifchild Cornwall 6 The people patronised the vans to such an extent that *short-running coaches were few.
1853‘Stonehenge’ Greyhound ix. 194 A good Wiltshire *short-running dog. Ibid. x. 211 A short-running, yet strong hare.
1883Good Cheer 36, I remembered a *short-set young chap.
1891Olver & O'Reilly Imperial Tariff 306 The requirement for the return of *short shipped goods into bond.
1865Kingsley Herew. xxxii, *Short-spoken, hard-headed, hard-swearing warriors.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. iv, The official persons have to smuggle forth the *short-weighing Baker by back doors.
1853‘Stonehenge’ Greyhound ix. 198 A dog got by a racing sire out of a little *short-working dam.
Add:[C.] [6.] c. to go, walk, etc. short: (of a horse) to take short strides, esp. as a symptom of lameness.
1753Chambers Cycl. Suppl. s.v. Beat, A horse..beats upon a walk, when he walks too short, and thus rids but little ground. 1850‘Harry Highover’ Horsemanship viii. 147 His [sc. a horse's] stepping short does not arise from his feet being actually bruised, but to insure his safety on an unequal and unsteady surface. 1938F. C. Hitchcock To Horse! i. 39 Watch carefully for any signs of going short or lameness. 1955D. M. Goodall Know Your Pony iv. 60 Lameness may be suspected if the pony is going short on any leg, particularly at the trot. 1963Horseman's Dict. 179 Short (to go), for a horse to walk, trot or gallop with a shortened stride indicative of some unsoundness not definable as actual lameness. 1976M. Maguire Scratchproof x. 145 He dredged up the old one [sc. story] about the horse going short on him—you know, not striding out. His action went scratchy.
▸ colloq. (orig. Austral. and N.Z.). Usu. depreciative. short of a—— and variants: lacking in common sense or intelligence, mentally deficient, slightly crazy; generally expressed in terms of some (specified) deficiency in a desirable or standard quantity of something, as a brick short of a load, a few sandwiches short of a picnic, sixpence short of a shilling, etc. See also a shingle short at shingle n.1 1b, and cf. to have a tile loose at tile n.1 1g, not all there at there adv. 12b.
Variants of these phrases also occur in the form lacking (also missing, wanting) a shingle (brick, etc.), not the full shilling (quid, etc.), and similar.
[1852G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes iii. 17 The climate is productive..of chronic diseases rather than acute ones. Let no man having, in colonial phrase, ‘a shingle short’ try this country. He will pass his days in Tarban Creek Asylum.] 1885R. C. Praed Austral. Life 199 He had always understood that Rachel Murray was short of a sheet of a bark—the Australian equivalent of ‘a tile loose’. 1939P. A. Eaddy 'Neath Swaying Spars 117 The old captain..must have been what some people term ‘a hapenny short of a shilling’. 1960N. Hilliard Maori Girl ii. vi. 213 Not that she was simple in the sense that she was short of the full quid. 1983R. Thomas Missionary Stew xv. 133 Velveeta's sort of pretty and halfway smart, even if she is six bricks short of a load. 1985Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 31 Jan. 3/7 He's got one oar out of the water..the light is out..he's one sandwich short of a picnic..the lift doesn't go to the top floor. 1992Making Music May 19 If someone's obviously several bananas short of a milkshake, how you deal with it depends on whether they're the star of the show. 1996Independent 26 Mar. 13/1 The following suggestion..comes from a leader of Conservative-controlled Westminster Council, so he will want to treat the proposal with respect, even though it is one spark plug short of an engine. 1999M. Syal Life isn't all Ha Ha Hee Hee ii. 70 At first, her child-like playfulness had worried him, alert as he was to the local whispers of the girl being a few chapattis short of a thali.
▸ With reference to the fact that younger boys traditionally wear short trousers, especially for school.in short trousers: (with varying degrees of literal meaning) very young; at an early stage of development.
1904Newark (Ohio) Advocate 27 June 7/1 That was Myra's cry, the one he had taught her when he was in short trousers and she wore long braids. 1928Decatur (Illinois) Rev. 14 Oct. 22/3 Harry Howard, leader of the Bijou theater orchestra, has been with the Bijou ever since he was in short trousers. 1973R. Peters Authority, Responsibility & Educ. 23 Here is a new way..of exchanging the worries and responsibilities of adult life for the security of childhood, of staying mentally for ever in short trousers. 1995New Musical Express 28 Oct. 54/3 They became The Present, taking mockney accents and tabloid-baiting E anthems to the top of the charts while Blur and Pulp were still in short trousers.
▸ Probably after Sir W. S. Gilbert: see quot. 1885.short sharp shock: a brief but harsh custodial sentence handed down to an (esp. young) offender in an attempt to discourage further offences; (hence) any severe measure taken in order to effect quick results.
[1885W. S. Gilbert Mikado i. 18 In a pestilential prison.., Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock, From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.] 1959Penal Pract. Changing Soc. ((Cmnd. 645)) 9 in Parl. Papers 1958–9 XXV. 1355 It has been found possible to adapt the original conception of the ‘short sharp shock’ to include that of a limited but positive form of training. 1962Jrnl. Industr. Econ. 10 (Suppl., Supply & Price Natural Gas) 23 The very natural distaste for a ‘short sharp shock’, which may be socially wasteful, too, explains much of the industry's history. 1975Economist 11 Oct. 79 If Italy can deliver a short, sharp shock to its importers, then why cannot Britain? 1981G. Priestland At Large (1983) 110 All it needs is better riot equipment, longer prison sentences or some short, sharp shocks. 1989Independent 22 Dec. 19/2 Slow decline has failed to achieve the desired impact. A short sharp shock is necessary. I propose that we double VAT and raise interest rates to 18 per cent. 1995Sci. & Public Affairs Winter 39/3 Experiments with ‘short, sharp shock’ detention in Britain in the early 1980s showed no impact on recidivism. 2000Times 20 Jan. 38/3 The issue of whether or not to smack your child raises more fears and heated discussion among parents than any other. Some see a spontaneous slap as the short, sharp shock treatment; a last resort for unruly offspring.
▸ short message service n. a service which enables its users to send short text messages (usually up to 160 characters long) to one mobile phone from another, or to a mobile phone via the Internet; abbreviated SMS.
1991K. Holley in IEE Colloquium on ‘GSM & PCN Enhanced Mobile Services’ Digest No. 23. 7/1 The GSM *Short Message Service (SMS) has been designed to meet the messaging needs of the mobile telephone user over and above the real-time speech and data services. 1997Scotsman (Electronic ed.) 7 Mar. Unlike the short message service, number memory and other flashy features can be appreciated without an evening class in phone programming. 2000N.Y. Times 21 Aug. (Internet Untethered suppl.) 16/3 (advt.) One of the key early signs of the potential of the global Mobile Internet is widespread use of short message service or SMS.
▪ II. † short, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 sceortian, 1–2 scortian, 2–5 scort, 4–6 schort(e, 5 schortyn, shorte, shortt, scorte, (sorth), 4–7 short.
[OE. sc(e)ortian to grow short, f. sc(e)ort short a. Cf. Du. schorten, ON. skorta to be lacking. In the trans. sense OE. had the cognate (ᵹe)scyrtan.]
1. intr. To grow short or shorter.
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 250, & se dæᵹ þonne sceortað, oð þæt seo sunne cymð eft suð to þam winterlican sunnstede. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 185 In his elde þe stature boweþ..þe breþ schorteþ. a1400–50Wars Alex. 3298 Loke to þine ende, For die þe bose, quen all is done & ay þi day scortis. c1450Brut ii. ccxxxviii. 334 Wherefor..his lyff shorted þe sonner. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxix. 46 Ȝit, quhone the nycht begynnis to schort, It dois my spreit sum part confort. 15..Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 44 So schortithe my brethe.
2. trans. To make short or shorter; to shorten.
a. To shorten the duration of (a person's life, a period of time, a condition); occas. to bring nearer (an appointed date). Also, to short (a person) of (life, suffering).
c1175Lamb. Hom. 25 Þenne cumeð..þe deofel..and him scorteð his daȝes. a1300Cursor M. 22214 For his derlinges..vr lauerd sal do scort þe dais, for if þe dais ne scorted were unnethes suld ani flexs be fere. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 49 Þorgh Edrike's conseile, scho [quene Emme] scorted his life. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 401 We ne liȝthe noht our lif wiþ no luthur dede, Where-fore we scholde with schame be schorted of daies. c1350Will. Palerne 1549 Þow hast lengþed my lif & my langour schortet. c1386Chaucer Pars. T. 653 Wherfore swich sorwe shorteth ful ofte the lif of man. 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love iii. iv. (Skeat) 119 Than saye I that no man may shorte ne lengthe the day ordayned of his dying. 1422Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. ix. 139 The foly company of women destrueth the body, sorthyth the lyuedayes [etc.]. c1440Jacob's Well 174 Þi sorwe may be so gret & so parfyȝt, þat it schal don awey synne, & schortyn þe peyne, as it dyde þe theef on þe crosse. a1500Abraham 309 in Brome Bk. 63 Fader, I prey ȝow hartely, schorte me of my woo. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xxi. 60 To sende me in to strange countres to thentent to short my dayes. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon iii. i. 1026 Then, Edward, short my life and end her loues. 1599Shakes., etc. Pass. Pilgr. xv, Short, night, to-night, and length thyself to-morrow. a1615Montgomerie Sonn. iii. 14 Sen conscience, love, and cheritie all laiks, Lord, short the season, for the chosens saiks.
b. To shorten (a discussion, narration, process, etc.); to curtail by omissions, abbreviate; to make an abridgement of (a literary work).
a1300Cursor M. 22305 The Iuus sal scort þam þair consail. a1390Prol. Job in Wyclif's Bible II. 670 Seuene hundrid almest or eiȝte hundrid vers failen; with the whiche the boc shortid..sheweth openli to the rederes his foule defaute. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxii. 103 Many oþer meruailes..at þis tyme I speke noȝt of, by cause of schortyng of my buke. 1450–1530Myrr. Our Lady 17 And therfor yt ys not semely that they [words & notes] shulde be shorted. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg., Justyn, The which hystorye saint Justyn abreuyd or shorted. 1529More Dyaloge iv. Wks. 287/2 If I hadde seen so muche before, it had been likely to haue shorted much part of our long communicacion. 1570Satir. Poems Reform. xii. 147, I flait not to offend ȝow In sempill veirs, this Schedull that I send ȝow; Beseikand ȝow to schort it gif ȝe may.
c. To reduce the length of (a material object, a journey); to cut short. to short (a person) by the head or knees: to decapitate or cut off the legs (cf. short a. 2, shorten v. 1 d).
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxiv. (Bodl. MS.), Þe tunge is so schorted þat vnneþe it is idrawe oute or neuer. 1412–20Lydg. Troy Bk. iii. 3017 With a stroke he rofe his nose a-two, And shortid it by þe haluendel. 1470–85Malory Arthur v. viii. 173 He shorted hym and smote of bothe his legges by the knees. a1500Nutbrowne Maid xx. in Arnolde's Chron. (1502) 76 b, To short my here, a bowe to bere. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cclxxxv. 426 Howbeit, their way was shorted, for..the frenchmen and they met togyder sodenly. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 117 With shorting and pikynge your bowes..[you] can neuer haue done vntyll they be starke nought. a1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV (1550) 3 His body was shorted, by the length of his hed.
fig.c1550Bale K. Johan 227, I se now they be at to mych lyberte; we wyll short ther hornys.
3. To make to appear short, to beguile (the time, the way) with sport or stories. Hence refl. To amuse oneself (Sc.). (Cf. shurt v.)
c1400[see shorting vbl. n.]. c1450J. Metham Wks. (E.E.T.S.) 14/406 And thus with myry songys and talys, day be day, They schortyd the tyme with myrtht and with play. 1513Douglas æneis vi. x. 37 Thai fall to wersling on the goldin sand, Assaying honest gemmis thaim to schort. Ibid. viii. v. 75 With sindry sermondis schortis he the way. 1528Lyndesay Dreme 75 Ȝit fure I furth..Towarte the see, to schorte me on the sandis. 1530Tindale Gen. To Rdr., As the maner is to prolonge the tale to shorte the tyme with all.
4. To cause to go short of.
1620J. Taylor (Water-P.) Praise Hemp-seed (1623) 5 The Draper of his wealth would much be shorted.
5. To make of no effect. nonce-use. Cf. shorten v. 3 b.
1611Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 200, I shall short my word By length'ning my returne.
6. intr. To come short in one's reckoning.
a1641Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 141 Three years, which indeed should be five, or he shorts in his account.
7. Naut. = shorten v. 5 b. absol.
c1557S. Burrough in Hakluyt Voy. (1599) I. 277 For as we shorted vpon y⊇ said warpe the anker came home.
Add:[4.] b. To give short measure to; to cheat (a person) out of something. Also fig. U.S. colloq.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §491/6 Short, short one for his end,..to withold more than one's share. Ibid. §491/7 ‘Shortchange’,..short. a1961Time in Webster s.v., Shorted him on his favorite hog jowl and turnip greens. 1973W. Harrington Mr Target (1974) i. 11 He counted the thousand Myron had given him. He didn't trust the detective not to short him. 1978Business Week 22 May 118/3 In a general inflation, even the winner may wind up getting shorted. 1985Sports Illustr. 21 Oct. 14/2 Sometimes we were shorted and didn't get five cards.
8. Comm. To sell (a commodity, stock, etc.) short (see short adv. 11). Also absol. orig. U.S.
1959Barron's 28 Dec. 9/1 Often during a bull market an outside news event..will cause a great many people to short the market. 1965R. E. Davis Profit & Probability ix. 185/2 Never short a very thin issue with only 750,000 shares. 1975Business Week 24 Mar. 128/1 For the past five years, there was a great deal of money to be made shorting... But relative to the risk now, short selling in most cases doesn't make sense. 1988Times 1 July 26/3 Big Wall Street houses..had shorted bonds on the expectation that the long bond would be yielding 10 per cent by now.
▪ III. short, v.2 trans. and intr.
= short-circuit v. (Cf. short n. 4 e.) Also with out, and fig. Hence ˈshorting vbl. n.2 and ppl. a.
1904Electr. Rev. 3 Sept. 341 Should any line become ‘shorted’ or ‘grounded’. 1907Motor Boat 4 July 440/2 The battery must be disconnected and the magneto ‘shorted’. 1907Daily Chron. 27 July 9/2 The coil went wrong, and the accumulators ‘shorted’ internally. 1912Motor Manual Advt. facing p. iii, The separators allow the plates to be placed closer together and yet make ‘shorting’ impossible. 1957Practical Wireless XXXIII. 734/1 A 150Ω resistor with a shorting switch. 1971B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 87 Both men were immediately sympathetic, and Di made a lot of clicking noises like a shorting Morse key. 1971P. O'Donnell Impossible Virgin x. 198 I'll take the Land-Rover and short out the ignition. 1974Sumter (S. Carolina) Daily Item 24 Apr. 2A/6 The fire was started by an electric fence shorting out. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 14 Aug. 9/2 A calcium-lead battery requires an inorganic sack around the lead grids to prevent materials of erosion from shorting out the battery. 1979N.Y. Rev. Bks. 8 Feb. 12/2, I cannot see for the life of me why Miss Renault, that dedicated Hellenophile, should choose to live anywhere rather than the Aegean—unless she is anxious to avoid shorting out the overloaded circuits of fantasy by the insistent presence of the real world. |