short
UK /ʃɔːt/ · US /ʃoɹt/ adjective, adverb, noun, verb, preposition, proper noun
Forms shorter shortest shorts shorting shorted
- adjective Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
- adjective Of a person, living being, or object, having a comparatively small height.
- adjective Having little duration. “Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.”
- adjective (followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another). “"Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".”
- adjective (cricket) Of a fielder or fielding position, that is relatively close to the batsman.
- adjective (cricket) Of a ball, bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
- adjective (golf) Of an approach shot or putt, that falls short of the green or the hole.
- adjective (gambling) Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
- adverb Abruptly, curtly, briefly. “They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.”
- adverb Unawares. “The recent developments at work caught them short.”
- adverb Without achieving a goal or requirement. “His speech fell short of what was expected.”
- adverb (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
- adverb (finance) With a negative ownership position. “We went short most finance companies in July.”
- noun A short circuit. “The circuit breaker keeps tripping because there's a short in the wiring.”
- noun A short film.
- noun (Internet) A short-form vertical video.
- noun (Internet, loosely) A vertical video of any length. “long short”
- noun A short version of a garment in a particular size. “38 short suits fit me right off the rack.”
- noun (baseball) A shortstop. “Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.”
- noun (finance) A short seller. “The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.”
Synonyms
low narrow slim shallow little pint-sized petite titchy brief concise scrimp shortsome stubbed stubby stumpy vertically challenged lacking short circuit shortstop short-change short-circuit inadequate poor unretentive forgetful light scant shortsighted unforesightful myopic
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-. Doublet of shirt, skirt, and curt.
Cognate with Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. See more at shirt.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight.
- adjective Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted; as, short breath.
- noun A summary account.
- noun pl.
Etymology [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.]
Etymology [AS. sceortian.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “short”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details