short

Universal Words adjective, adverb, noun, verb adjective (shorter, shortest) length / distance 1 measuring or covering a small length or distance, or a smaller length or distance than usual: He had short curly hair. * a short walk / drive / flight * a short skirt OPPLONG height 2 (of a person) small in height: She was short and dumpy. OPPTALL time 3 lasting or taking a small amount of time or less time than usual: I'm going to France for a short break. * Which is the shortest day of the year? * a short book / list (= taking a short time to read / deal with) * She has a very short memory (= remembers only things that have happened recently) * (spoken) Life's too short to sit around moping. * It was all over in a relatively short space of time. OPPLONG 4 [onlybeforenoun] (of a period of time) seeming to have passed very quickly: Just two short years ago he was the best player in the country. OPPLONG not enough 5 [notbeforenoun] ~ (of sth) not having enough of sth; lacking sth: I'm afraid I'm a little short (= of money) this month. * She is not short of excuses when things go wrong. 6 ~ on sth (informal) lacking or not having enough of a particular quality: He was a big strapping guy but short on brains. 7 [notbeforenoun] not easily available; not supplying as much as you need: Money was short at that time. 8 [notbeforenoun] ~ (of sth) less than the number, amount or distance mentioned or needed: Her last throw was only three centimetres short of the world record. * The team was five players short. * She was just short of her 90th birthday when she died. of breath 9 ~ of breath having difficulty breathing, for example because of illness: a fat man, always short of breath name / word 10 ~ for sth being a shorter form of a name or word: Call me Jo-it's short for Joanna. * file transfer protocol or FTP for short rude 11 [notbeforenoun] ~ (with sb) (of a person) speaking to sb using few words in a way that seems rude: I'm sorry I was short with you earlier-I had other things on my mind. vowel 12 (phonetics) a short vowel is pronounced for a shorter time than other vowels: Compare the short vowel in 'full' and the long vowel in 'fool'. OPPLONG seealsoSHORTLY shortness noun [U]: She suffered from shortness of breath. IDIOMS a brick short of a load, two sandwiches short of a picnic, etc. (informal) (of a person) stupid; not very intelligent get the short end of the stick (AmE) = draw the short straw at DRAWv. give sb/sth / get short shrift to give sb/get little attention or sympathy have / be on a short fuse to have a tendency to get angry quickly and easily: You may find your temper on a short fuse when confronting your teenager. in short order quickly and without trouble in the short run concerning the immediate future: In the short run, unemployment may fall. in short supply not existing in large enough quantities to satisfy demand: Basic foodstuffs were in short supply. * Sunshine will be in short supply for the west coast. little / nothing short of sth used when you are saying that sth is almost true, or is equal to sth: Last year's figures were little short of disastrous. * The transformation has been nothing short of a miracle. make short work of sth/sb to defeat, deal with sth/sb quickly: Liverpool made short work of the opposition (= in a football game). * He made short work of his lunch (= ate it quickly). short and sweet (informal) pleasant but not lasting a long time: We haven't much time so I'll keep it short and sweet. moreatDRAWv., LONGadj., MEASUREn., NOTICEn., TERMn., THICKadj. adverb (shorter, shortest) 1 if you go short of or run short of sth, you do not have enough of it: I'd never let you go short of anything. * Mothers regularly go short of food to ensure their children have enough. * They had run short of (= used most of their supply of) fuel. 2 not as far as you need or expect: All too often you pitch the ball short. 3 before the time expected or arranged; before the natural time: a career tragically cut short by illness * I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop you short there, as time is running out. IDIOMS be caught short (BrE also be taken short) 1 (BrE, informal) to suddenly feel an urgent need to go to the toilet 2 to be put at a disadvantage fall short of sth to fail to reach the standard that you expected or need: The hotel fell far short of their expectations. short of (doing) sth without sth; without doing sth; unless sth happens: Short of a miracle, we're certain to lose. * Short of asking her to leave (= and we don't want to do that) there's not a lot we can do about the situation. pull, bring, etc. sb up short to make sb suddenly stop what they are doing: I was brought up short by a terrible thought. moreatSELLv., STOPv. noun (informal)-see also SHORTS 1 (BrE) a small strong alcoholic drink, for example of whisky 2 a short film/movie, especially one that is shown before the main film 3 = SHORTCIRCUIT IDIOMS in short in a few words: His novels belong to a great but vanished age. They are, in short, old-fashioned. moreatLONGadj. verb ~ (sth) (out) (informal) = SHORT-CIRCUIT [V] Lightning crackled overhead as cables shorted out. [also VN]