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short


  6  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Short  \Short\,  a.  [Compar.  {Shorter};  superl.  {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.  --Shak. 
 
  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. 
 
  Note:  Metals  that  are  brittle  when  hot  are  called  ?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},  n.,  and  To  sell  short, 
  under  {Short},  adv 
 
  Note:  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,  [sect][sect]22,  30. 
 
  Note:  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 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Short  \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. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Short  \Short\,  n. 
  1.  A  summary  account. 
 
  The  short  and  the  long  is  our  play  is  preferred. 
  --Shak. 
 
  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. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Short  \Short\,  v.  t.  [AS.  sceortian.] 
  To  shorten.  [Obs.] 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Short  \Short\,  v.  i. 
  To  fail  to  decrease.  [Obs.] 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  short 
  adj  1:  primarily  temporal  sense  indicating  or  being  or  seeming  to 
  be  limited  in  duration;  "a  short  life";  "a  short 
  flight";  "a  short  holiday";  "a  short  story";  "only  a 
  few  short  months"  [ant:  {long}] 
  2:  primarily  spatial  sense  having  little  length  or  lacking  in 
  length;  "short  skirts";  "short  hair";  "the  board  was  a 
  foot  short";  "a  short  toss"  [ant:  {long}] 
  3:  low  in  stature;  not  tall;  "his  was  short  and  stocky";  "short 
  in  stature";  "a  short  smokestack"  [ant:  {tall}] 
  4:  not  sufficient  to  meet  a  need  "an  inadequate  income";  "a 
  poor  salary";  "money  is  short";  "on  short  rations";  "food 
  is  in  short  supply";  "short  on  experience"  [syn:  {inadequate}, 
  {poor}] 
  5:  (finance)  not  holding  securities  or  commodities  that  one 
  sells  in  expectation  of  a  fall  in  prices;  "a  short  sale"; 
  "short  in  cotton"  [ant:  {long}] 
  6:  (phonetics)  of  speech  sounds  (especially  vowels)  of 
  relatively  short  duration  (as  e.g.  the  English  vowel 
  sounds  in  `pat',  `pet',  `pit',  `pot',  putt')  [ant:  {long}] 
  7:  containing  a  large  amount  of  shortening;  therefore  tender 
  and  easy  to  crumble  or  break  into  flakes;  "shortbread  is  a 
  short  crumbly  cookie";  "a  short  flaky  pie  crust" 
  8:  less  than  the  correct  or  legal  or  full  amount  often 
  deliberately  so  "a  light  pound";  "a  scant  cup  of  sugar"; 
  "regularly  gives  short  weight"  [syn:  {light},  {scant(p)}] 
  9:  (prosody)  used  of  syllables  that  are  unaccented  or  of 
  relatively  brief  duration 
  10:  (of  memory)  deficient  in  retentiveness  or  range;  "a  short 
  memory" 
  11:  lacking  foresight  or  scope;  "a  short  view  of  the  problem"; 
  "shortsighted  policies";  "shortsighted  critics  derided 
  the  plan"  [syn:  {shortsighted},  {unforesightful}] 
  12:  unwilling  to  endure;  "she  was  short  with  the  slower 
  students"  [syn:  {unforbearing}] 
  13:  quickly  aroused  to  anger;  "a  hotheaded  commander"  [syn:  {choleric}, 
  {irascible},  {hotheaded},  {hot-tempered},  {quick-tempered}, 
  {short-tempered}] 
  14:  most  direct;  "took  the  shortest  and  most  direct  route  to 
  town"  [syn:  {shortest}] 
  15:  marked  by  rude  or  peremptory  shortness;  "try  to  cultivate  a 
  less  brusque  manner";  "a  curt  reply";  "the  salesgirl  was 
  very  short  with  him"  [syn:  {brusque},  {brusk},  {curt},  {short(p)}] 
  n  1:  the  location  on  a  baseball  field  where  the  shortstop  is 
  stationed 
  2:  electrical  circuit  is  overloaded  [syn:  {short  circuit}] 
  3:  the  fielding  position  of  the  player  on  a  baseball  team  who 
  is  stationed  between  2nd  and  3rd  base  [syn:  {shortstop}] 
  adv  1:  quickly  and  without  warning;  "he  stopped  suddenly"  [syn:  {abruptly}, 
  {suddenly},  {dead}] 
  2:  (finance)  without  possessing  something  at  the  time  it  is 
  contractually  sold;  "he  made  his  fortune  by  selling  short 
  just  before  the  crash" 
  3:  clean  across  "the  car's  axle  snapped  short" 
  4:  at  some  point  or  distance  before  a  goal  is  reached;  "he  fell 
  short  of  our  expectations" 
  5:  so  as  to  interrupt;  "She  took  him  up  short  before  he  could 
  continue" 
  6:  at  a  disadvantage;  "I  was  caught  short"  [syn:  {unawares}] 
  7:  tightly;  "she  caught  him  up  short  on  his  lapel" 
  8:  in  a  curt,  abrupt  and  discourteous  manner;  "he  told  me 
  curtly  to  get  on  with  it";  "he  talked  short  with 
  everyone";  "he  said  shortly  that  he  didn't  like  it"  [syn: 
  {curtly},  {shortly}] 
  v  1:  cheat  someone  by  not  returning  him  enough  money  [syn:  {short-change}] 
  2:  create  a  short-circuit  in  [syn:  {short-circuit}] 




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