short

short¹ W1S1 [ʃo:t US ʃo:rt] adj comparative shorter superlative shortest

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1¦(time)¦

2¦(length/distance)¦

3¦(not tall)¦

4¦(book/letter)¦

5¦(not enough)¦

6 be short on something

7¦(less than)¦

8 short notice

9 in the short term/run

10 have a short memory

11 be short for something

12 be short of breath

13 be short with somebody

14 have a short temper/fuse

15 get/be given short shrift

16 be nothing/little short of something

17 draw/get the short straw

18 make short work of (doing) something

19 have/get somebody by the short and curlies

20 be one ... short of a ...

21 short time

22 in short order

23 give somebody short measure

24¦(sound)¦

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[: Old English; Origin: scort]

1.) ¦(TIME)¦

happening or continuing for only a little time or for less time than usual

≠ ↑long

▪ a short meeting

▪ Morris gave a short laugh.

▪ a short course on business English

▪ Winter is coming and the days are getting shorter.

▪ I've only been in Brisbane a short time .

▪ For a short while (=a short time) , the city functioned as the region's capital.

▪ I learned a lot during my short period as a junior reporter.

▪ Germany achieved spectacular economic success in a relatively short period of time .

▪ They met and married within a short space of time .

▪ I promise to keep the meeting short and sweet (=short in a way that is good, especially not talking for a long time) .

▪ For a few short weeks (=they seemed to pass very quickly) the sun shone and the fields turned gold.

2.) ¦(LENGTH/DISTANCE)¦

measuring a small amount in length or distance

≠ ↑long

▪ a short skirt

▪ Anita had her hair cut short.

▪ They went by the shortest route, across the fields.

▪ Carol's office was only a short distance away, and she decided that she would walk there.

a short walk/flight/drive

▪ It's a short drive to the airport.

▪ The hotel is only a short walk from the beach.

3.) ¦(NOT TALL)¦

someone who is short is not as tall as most people

≠ ↑tall

▪ a short plump woman

▪ Chris was short and stocky, with broad shoulders.

▪ He's a bit shorter than me.

4.) ¦(BOOK/LETTER)¦

a book, letter etc that is short does not have many words or pages

≠ ↑long

▪ a short novel

▪ I wrote a short note to explain.

→↑short story

5.) ¦(NOT ENOUGH)¦

a) if you are short of something, you do not have enough of it

be short (of sth)

▪ Can you lend me a couple of dollars? I'm a little short.

be short of money/cash/funds

▪ Our libraries are short of funds.

be 5p/$10 etc short

▪ Have you all paid me? I'm about £9 short.

I'm a bit short

BrE spoken (=I haven't got much money at the moment)

sb is not short of sth

BrE (=they have a lot of it)

▪ Your little girl's not short of confidence, is she?

▪ They're not short of a few bob (=they are rich) .

b) if something is short, there is not enough of it

▪ Money was short in those days.

▪ It's going to be difficult - time is short.

▪ Gasoline was in short supply (=not enough of it was available) after the war.

6.) be short on sth

to have less of something than you should have

▪ He's a nice guy, but a little short on brains.

▪ The President's speech was long on colorful phrases but short on solutions.

7.) ¦(LESS THAN)¦

a little less than a number

short of

▪ Her time was only 2 seconds short of the world record.

just/a little short of sth

▪ She was just short of six feet tall.

8.) short notice

if something is short notice, you are told about it only a short time before it happens

▪ I can't make it Friday. It's very short notice .

at short notice

BrE on short notice AmE

▪ The party was arranged at short notice.

9.) in the short term/run

during the period of time that is not very far into the future

→↑short-term

▪ These measures may save money in the short term, but we'll end up spending more later.

10.) have a short memory

if someone has a short memory, they soon forget something that has happened

▪ Voters have very short memories.

11.) be short for sth

to be a shorter way of saying a name

▪ Her name is Alex, short for Alexandra.

12.) be short of breath

to be unable to breathe easily, especially because you are unhealthy

▪ He couldn't walk far without getting short of breath.

13.) be short with sb

to speak to someone using very few words, in a way that seems rude or unfriendly

▪ Sorry I was short with you on the phone this morning.

14.) have a short temper/fuse

to get angry very easily

▪ Mr Yanto, who had a very short fuse, told her to get out.

15.) get/be given short shrift

if you or your idea, suggestion etc is given short shrift, you are told immediately that you are wrong and are not given any attention or sympathy

▪ McLaren got short shrift from all the record companies when he first presented his new band to them in 1976.

16.) be nothing/little short of sth

used to emphasize that something is very good, very surprising etc

▪ Her recovery seemed nothing short of a miracle.

▪ The results are little short of astonishing.

17.) draw/get the short straw

to be given something difficult or unpleasant to do, especially when other people have been given something better

▪ Giles drew the short straw, and has to give us a talk this morning.

18.) make short work of (doing) sth

to finish something quickly and easily, especially food or a job

▪ The kids made short work of the sandwiches.

▪ Computers can make short work of complex calculations.

19.) have/get sb by the short and curlies also have/get sb by the short hairs

BrE informal not polite to put someone in a situation in which they are forced to do or accept what you want

▪ I signed the contract - they've got me by the short and curlies.

20.) be one ... short of a ...

spoken used humorously to say that someone is a little crazy or stupid

▪ Lady, are you a few aces short of a deck?

▪ He's one sandwich short of a picnic .

21.) short time

BrE when workers work for fewer hours than usual, because the company cannot afford to pay them their full wage

▪ Most of the workers were put on short time .

22.) in short order

formal in a short time and without delay

23.) give sb short measure

BrE old-fashioned to give someone less than the correct amount of something, especially in a shop

24.) ¦(SOUND)¦

technical a short vowel is pronounced quickly without being emphasized, for example the sound of a in 'cat', e in 'bet', and i in 'bit'

≠ ↑long

>shortness n [U]

▪ He was suffering from shortness of breath.

▪ Shirley was very conscious of her shortness and always wore high heels.

→life's too short at ↑life

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WORD FOCUS: short

speech/piece of writing: brief, concise, condensed, abridged

person: not very tall, little, tiny, petite

time/event: brief, quick, momentary, fleeting, ephemeral, transient, passing, short-lived

legs/fingers: stumpy, stubby

clothes: skimpy

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short ²

short² adv

1.) fall short of sth

to be less than what you need, expected, or hoped for, or to fail to reach a satisfactory standard

▪ The Republicans increased their share of the vote, but still fell short of a majority.

▪ Shares in the company dropped 26p yesterday, as profits fell short of City expectations .

fall short of a goal/target/ideal

▪ The economy fell short of the Treasury's target of 2% growth.

fall far/a long way/well short of sth

▪ Facilities in these schools fall far short of the standards required.

▪ One or two songs on the album are interesting, but most fall short of the mark (=are not good enough) .

2.) be running short (of/on sth)

if you are running short of something, or if something is running short, it is being used up and there will soon not be enough left

▪ We're running short of coffee again.

▪ Our supplies of petrol were running short.

▪ Come on, time's running short !

3.) stop short of doing sth

to almost do something but then decide not to do it

▪ They accused the President of incompetence, but stopped short of calling for his resignation.

4.) stop short

to suddenly stop speaking or stop what you are doing, because something has surprised you or you have just thought of something

▪ Seeing her tears, he stopped short.

5.) be cut short

if something is cut short, it is stopped before you expect or before it is finished

▪ His career was tragically cut short when, at the age of 42, he died of a heart attack.

6.) cut sb short

to interrupt and stop someone when they are speaking

▪ I was halfway through my explanation when Walter cut me short.

7.) pull/bring sb up short

to surprise or shock someone so that they stop what they are doing or saying to think for a moment

▪ The question brought her up short, but after a moment's hesitation, she answered it.

8.) 3 metres/5 miles etc short of sth

without reaching a place you are trying to get to, because you are still a particular distance from it

▪ The plane touched down 200 metres short of the runway.

9.) two weeks/a month etc short of sth

two weeks, a month etc before something

▪ He died two days short of his fifty-sixth birthday.

10.) short of (doing) sth

without actually doing something

▪ Short of locking her in her room, he couldn't really stop her from seeing Jack.

11.) come up short

to fail to win or achieve something

▪ We've been to the state tournament four times, but we've come up short every time.

12.) go short (of sth)

BrE to have less of something than you need

▪ She made sure that her children never went short.

13.) be taken short/be caught short

BrE informal to have a sudden strong need to go to the toilet when you are not near one

short ³

short³ n

1.) shorts [plural]

a) short trousers ending at or above the knees

▪ a pair of shorts

▪ tourists in shorts and T-shirts

→↑Bermuda shorts, ↑cycling shorts

b) especially AmE men's underwear with short legs

▪ Craig was standing in the kitchen in his shorts.

→↑boxer shorts, ↑Jockey shorts

2.) in short

used when you want to give the main point of something

▪ Carter hoped for greater trust between the two nations, more trade, more cultural exchanges - in short, a genuine peace.

3.) for short

used as a shorter way of saying a name

▪ His name's Maximilian, but we just call him Max for short.

4.) informal

a short film shown in the cinema

5.) BrE informal a strong alcoholic drink that is not beer or wine, drunk in a small glass

American Equivalent: shot

▪ Do you fancy a short? A whisky or a vodka?

6.) informal

a ↑short circuit

▪ a short in the system

→the long and the short of it at ↑long¹ (10)

short ⁴

short⁴ v [I and T] also short out

to ↑short-circuit, or make something do this

▪ The toaster shorted and caused a fire.