short [1] (shorter comparative) (shortest superlative ) (ADJECTIVE AND ADVERB USES)
Please look at category 23 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1 adj If something is short or lasts for a short time, it does not last very long. , (Antonym: long)
The announcement was made a short time ago..., How could you do it in such a short period of time?..., Kemp gave a short laugh..., We had a short meeting.
2 adj If you talk about a short hour, day, or year, you mean that it seems to have passed very quickly or will seem to pass very quickly.
usu ADJ n (Antonym: long)
For a few short weeks there was peace...
3 adj A short speech, letter, or book does not have many words or pages in it.
usu ADJ n (Antonym: long)
They were performing a short extract from Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona...
4 adj Someone who is short is not as tall as most people are. , (Antonym: tall)
I'm tall and thin and he's short and fat., ...a short, elderly woman with grey hair...
5 adj Something that is short measures only a small amount from one end to the other. , (Antonym: long)
The city centre and shops are only a short distance away..., His black hair was very short.
6 adj If you are short of something or if it is short , you do not have enough of it. If you are running short of something or if it is running short , you do not have much of it left.
v-link ADJ, usu ADJ of n
Her father's illness left the family short of money..., Supplies of everything are unreliable, food is short...
7 adj If someone or something is or stops short of a place, they have not quite reached it. If they are or fall short of an amount, they have not quite achieved it.
v-link ADJ of n
He stopped a hundred yards short of the building...
8 prep-phrase Short of a particular thing means except for that thing or without actually doing that thing.
PREP n/-ing
Short of climbing railings four metres high, there was no way into the garden from this road...
9 adv If something is cutshort or stopsshort , it is stopped before people expect it to or before it has finished.
ADV after v
His glittering career was cut short by a heart attack...
10 adj If a name or abbreviation is short for another name, it is the short version of that name.
v-link ADJ for n
Her friend Kes (short for Kesewa) was in tears..., `O.O.B.E.' is short for `Out Of Body Experience'.
11 adj If you have a short temper, you get angry very easily.
...an awkward, self-conscious woman with a short temper.
→
short-tempered
12 adj If you are short with someone, you speak briefly and rather rudely to them, because you are impatient or angry.
v-link ADJ, usu ADJ with n
She seemed nervous or tense, and she was definitely short with me.
13 If a person or thing is called something for short, that is the short version of their name.
for short phrase usu n PHR
Opposite me was a woman called Jasminder (Jazzy for short)...
14 If you go shortof something, especially food, you do not have as much of it as you want or need.
go short phrase V inflects, oft PHR of n
Some people may manage their finances badly and therefore have to go short of essentials.
15 You use in short when you have been giving a lot of details and you want to give a conclusion or summary.
in short phrase PHR with cl
Try tennis, badminton or windsurfing. In short, anything challenging...
16 You use nothing short of or little short of to emphasize how great or extreme something is. For example, if you say that something is nothing short of a miracle or nothing short of disastrous, you are emphasizing that it is a miracle or it is disastrous.
nothing/little short of phrase v-link PHR adj/n (emphasis)
The results are nothing short of magnificent...
17 If you say that someone is, for example, several cards short of a full deck or one sandwich short of a picnic, you think they are stupid, foolish, or crazy.
INFORMAL
X short of a Y phrase v-link PHR
18 If someone or something is short on a particular good quality, they do not have as much of it as you think they should have.
be short on sth phrase V inflects (disapproval)
The proposals were short on detail.
19 If someone stops short of doing something, they come close to doing it but do not actually do it.
stop short of phrase V inflects, PHR -ing/n
He stopped short of explicitly criticizing the government...
20 If workers are put on short time, they are asked to work fewer hours than the normal working week, because their employer can not afford to pay them a full time wage.
short time phrase on PHR, PHR n
Workers across the country have been put on short time because of the slump in demand..., Most manufacturers have had to introduce short-time working.
21 If something pulls you up short or brings you up short, it makes you suddenly stop what you are doing.
pull/bring sb up short phrase V inflects
The name on the gate pulled me up short.
22 If you make short work of someone or something, you deal with them or defeat them very quickly.
INFORMAL
make short work of sb/sth phrase V inflects, PHR n
Agassi made short work of his opponent.
23
→
short of breath
→
breath
→
at short notice
→
notice
→
to sell someone short
→
sell
→
to get short shrift
→
shrift
→
to cut a long story short
→
story
→
to draw the short straw
→
straw
→
in short supply
→
supply
→
in the short term
→
term
