short.
Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
Meaning & usage
Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
Of a person, living being, or object, having a comparatively small height.
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.
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".
Of a fielder or fielding position, that is relatively close to the batsman.
Of a ball, bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
Of an approach shot or putt, that falls short of the green or the hole.
Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
Of pastries or (metallurgy) of materials, brittle, crumbly.
shortbread
hot short
Abrupt, brief, pointed, curt.
He gave a short answer to the question.
Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
a short supply of provisions
Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.
to be short of money
I'd lend you the cash but I'm a little short at present.
Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
an account which is short of the truth
Undiluted; neat.
Not distant in time; near at hand.
Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
short position
I'm short in General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.
Doubtful of, skeptical of.
Of money, given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Germanic *skertaną Proto-Germanic *skurtaz Proto-West Germanic *skurt Old English sċort Middle English schort English short 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. Cognates 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.
Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.
Unawares.
The recent developments at work caught them short.
We were caught short by the sudden hailstorm.
Without achieving a goal or requirement.
His speech fell short of what was expected.
Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
With a negative ownership position.
We went short most finance companies in July.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Germanic *skertaną Proto-Germanic *skurtaz Proto-West Germanic *skurt Old English sċort Middle English schort English short 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. Cognates 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.
A short circuit.
The circuit breaker keeps tripping because there's a short in the wiring.
A short film.
A short film. A short-form vertical video.
A short film. A vertical video of any length.
long short
A short version of a garment in a particular size.
38 short suits fit me right off the rack.
Do you have that size in a short?
A shortstop.
Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.
A short seller.
The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.
A short sale or short position.
He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
A summary account.
A short phone (such as a vowel) or syllable.
An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
An automobile.
crack shorts
Ellipsis of short bond paper.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Germanic *skertaną Proto-Germanic *skurtaz Proto-West Germanic *skurt Old English sċort Middle English schort English short 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. Cognates 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.
To cause a short circuit in (something).
You should short the poles of the capacitor to discharge it before you work on it.
To short circuit.
To provide with an amount smaller than that agreed or labeled; to shortchange.
This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.
To shorten.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Germanic *skertaną Proto-Germanic *skurtaz Proto-West Germanic *skurt Old English sċort Middle English schort English short 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. Cognates 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.
Deficient in.
We are short a few men on the second shift.
He's short common sense.
Having a negative position in.
I don’t want to be short the market going into the weekend.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Germanic *skertaną Proto-Germanic *skurtaz Proto-West Germanic *skurt Old English sċort Middle English schort English short 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. Cognates 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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.