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Webster 1913 Edition

Short

Short

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Shorter
;
sup
erl.
Shortest
.]
[OE.
short
,
schort
, AS.
scort
,
sceort
; akin to OHG.
scurz
, Icel.
skorta
to be short of, to lack, and perhaps to E.
shear
, v. t. Cf.
Shirt
.]
1.
Not long; having brief length or linear extension;
as, a
short
distance; a
short
piece of timber; a
short
flight.
The bed is
shorter
than that a man can stretch himself on it.
Isa. xxviii. 20.
2.
Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted;
as,
short
breath
.
The life so
short
, the craft so long to learn.
Chaucer.
To
short
absense I could yield.
Milton.
3.
Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty;
as, a
short
supply of provisions, or of water
.
4.
Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the ordinary, standard; – usually with of;
as, to be
short
of money
.
We shall be
short
in our provision.
Shakespeare
5.
Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a measure or standard;
as, an account which is
short
of the trith
.
6.
Not distant in time; near at hand.
Marinell was sore offended
That his departure thence should be so
short
.
Spenser.
He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a
short
day.
Clarendon.
7.
Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive; narrow; not tenacious, as memory.
Their own
short
understandings reach
No farther than the present.
Rowe.
8.
Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or equivalent; less (than); – with of.
Hardly anything
short
of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
Landor.
9.
Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant;
as, he gave a
short
answer to the question
.
10.
(Cookery)
Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth; crisp;
as,
short
pastry
.
11.
(Metal)
Brittle.
☞ Metals that are brittle when hot are called [GREEK]ot-short; as, cast iron may be hot-short, owing to the presence of sulphur. Those that are brittle when cold are called cold-short; as, cast iron may be cold-short, on account of the presence of phosphorus.
12.
(Stock Exchange)
Engaging or engaged to deliver what is not possessed;
as,
short
contracts; to be
short
of stock. See
The shorts
, under
Short
,
Noun.
, and
To sell short
, under
Short
,
adv.
☞ In mercantile transactions, a note or bill is sometimes made payable at short sight, that is, in a little time after being presented to the payer.
13.
(Phon.)
Not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in utterance; – opposed to
long
, and applied to vowels or to syllables. In English, the long and short of the same letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the short sound of a in pate, etc. See
Quantity
, and Guide to Pronunciation, §§22, 30.
☞ Short is much used with participles to form numerous self-explaining compounds; as, short-armed, short-billed, short-fingered, short-haired, short-necked, short-sleeved, short-tailed, short-winged, short-wooled, etc.
At short notice
,
in a brief time; promptly.
–
Short rib
(Anat.)
,
one of the false ribs.
–
Short suit
(Whist)
,
any suit having only three cards, or less than three.
R. A. Proctor.
–
To come short
,
To cut short
,
To fall short
,
etc. See under
Come
,
Cut
, etc.

Short

,
Noun.
1.
A summary account.
The
short
and the long is, our play is preferred.
Shakespeare
2.
pl.
The part of milled grain sifted out which is next finer than the bran.
The first remove above bran is
shorts
.
Halliwell.
3.
pl.
Short, inferior hemp.
4.
pl.
Breeches; shortclothes.
[Slang]
Dickens.
5.
(Phonetics)
A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
If we compare the nearest conventional
shorts
and longs in English, as in “bit” and “beat,” “not” and “naught,” we find that the short vowels are generally wide, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well. Hence, originally short vowels can be lengthened and yet kept quite distinct from the original longs.
H. Sweet.
In short
,
in few words; in brief; briefly.
–
The long and the short
,
the whole; a brief summing up.
–
The shorts
(Stock Exchange)
,
those who are unsupplied with stocks which they contracted to deliver.

Short

,
adv.
In a short manner; briefly; limitedly; abruptly; quickly;
as, to stop
short
in one’s course; to turn
short
.
He was taken up very
short
, and adjudged corrigible for such presumptuous language.
Howell.
To sell short
(Stock Exchange)
,
to sell, for future delivery, what the party selling does not own, but hopes to buy at a lower rate.

Short

,
Verb.
T.
[AS.
sceortian
.]
To shorten.
[Obs.]

Short

,
Verb.
I.
To fail; to decrease.
[Obs.]

Webster 1828 Edition

Short

SHORT

,
Adj.
[L. curtus.]
1. Not long; not having great length or extension; as a short distance; a short ferry; a short flight; a short piece of timber.
The bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it. Is. 28.
2. Not extended in time; not of long duration.
The triumphing of the wicked is short. Job 20.
3. Not of usual or suffifient length, reach or extent.
Weak though I am of limb, and short of sight. Pope.
4. Not of long duration; repeated at small intervals of time; as short breath.
5. Not of adequate extent or quantity; not reaching the point demanded, desired or expected; as a quantity short of our expectations.
Not therefore am I short
Of knowing what I ought. Milton.
6. Deficient; defective; imperfect. This account is short of the truth.
7. Not adequate; insufficient; scanty; as, provisions are short; a short allowance of water for the voyage.
8. Not sufficiently supplied; scantily furnished.
the English were inferior in number, and grew short in their provisions.

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