short
short
/ʃɔːt/
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/distance
a short skirt
She decided to cut her hair short.
Collocations
verbs
belookseem…
adverb
extremelyfairlyvery…
See full entry
height
2 (of a person) small in height
He was a short, fat little man.
She was short and dumpy.
What did he look like? Was he dark or fair? Tall or short?
time
3 lasting or taking a small amount of time or less time than usual
a short time/period/while
The government is suggesting a relatively short consultation period.
a programme of short films
The short answer to your query is that he has acted completely illegally.
a short book (= that does not have many pages and so does not take long to read)
She has a very short memory (= remembers only things that have happened recently).
It was all over in a relatively short space of time.
They have achieved spectacular results in a remarkably short span of time.
I'm going to France for a short break.
She made a short trip to Chicago last July.
Which is the shortest day of the year?
When it comes to your presentation, keep it short and simple.
I'm sorry it's such short notice—we didn't know ourselves until today.
Just two short years ago he was the best player in the country.
not enough
I'm afraid I'm a little short (= of money) this month.
short of something She is not short of excuses when things go wrong.
6 short on something (informal) not having enough of a particular quality
He was a big, strong guy but short on brains.
If you're short on time, skip these steps and go straight to step five.
The article is pretty short on details.
Money was short at that time.
There's still hope a buyer for the company can be found, but time is short.
8 not before noun short (of something) 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 short of breath having difficulty breathing, for example because of illness
a fat man, always short of breath
name/word
10 being a shorter form of a name or word
short for something Call me Jo—it's short for Joanna.
for short file transfer protocol or FTP for short
rude
11 not before noun short (with somebody) (of a person) speaking to somebody 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’.
Idioms
short
/ʃɔːt/
1 if you go short of or run short of something, 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.
His career was cut short by injury.
Idioms
(British English, informal) to suddenly feel a strong need to go to the toilet
to be put at a disadvantage
(South African English, informal) to have an accident; to get into trouble
to fail to reach the standard that you expected or need
The hotel fell far short of their expectations.
TOPICS Difficulty and failureC2
to make somebody suddenly stop what they are doing
I was brought up short by a terrible thought.
to not value somebody/yourself highly enough and show this by the way you treat or present them/yourself
without something; without doing something; unless something 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.
to suddenly stop, or make somebody suddenly stop, doing something
He stopped short when he heard his name.
‘I’m pregnant,’ she said. That stopped him short.
short
/ʃɔːt/
(informal)
1 (British English) a small strong alcoholic drink, for example of whisky
2 a short film, especially one that is shown before the main film
3 (informal) a short circuit (= a failure in an electrical circuit, when electricity travels along the wrong route because of damaged wires or a fault in the connections between the wires)
Idioms
short
/ʃɔːt/
short (something) (out) to short-circuit (= to have a short circuit; to make something have a short circuit)
Word Origin
Old English sceort, of Germanic origin; related to shirt and skirt.