Shorter

Noun

Frank, born 1947, U.S. marathon runner.

Wayne, born 1933, U.S. jazz saxophonist and composer.

Adjective

having little length; not long.

having little height; not tall

a short man.

extending or reaching only a little way

a short path.

brief in duration; not extensive in time

a short wait.

brief or concise, as writing.

rudely brief; abrupt; hurting

short behavior.

low in amount; scanty

short rations.

not reaching a point, mark, target, or the like; not long enough or far enough.

below the standard in extent, quantity, duration, etc.

short measure.

having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often fol. by in or on )

He was short in experience.

being below a necessary or desired level; lacking

The office is short due to winter colds and flu.

Cookery .

(of pastry and the like) crisp and flaky; breaking or crumbling readily from being made with a large proportion of butter or other shortening.

(of dough) containing a relatively large amount of shortening.

(of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle.

(of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back.

Stock Exchange .

not possessing at the time of sale commodities or stocks that one sells.

noting or pertaining to a sale of commodities or stocks that the seller does not possess, depending for profit on a decline in prices.

Phonetics .

lasting a relatively short time

Bit has a shorter vowel-sound than bid or bead.

belonging to a class of sounds considered as usually shorter in duration than another class, as the vowel of but as compared to that of bought, and in many languages serving as a distinctive feature of phonemes, as the a in German Bann in contrast with the ah in Bahn, or the t in Italian fato in contrast with the tt in fatto ( opposed to long ).

having the sound of the English vowels in bat, bet, bit, hot, but, and put, historically descended from vowels that were short in duration.

Prosody .

(of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable.

unstressed.

(of an alcoholic drink) small

a short drink.

Chiefly British . (of whiskey) undiluted; straight.

Ceramics . (of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled.

Ropemaking . hard ( def. 39 ) .

Adverb

abruptly or suddenly

to stop short.

briefly; curtly.

on the near side of an intended or particular point

The arrow landed short.

Baseball .

with the hands higher on the handle of the bat than usual

He held the bat short and flied out.

in a fielding position closer to home plate than usual.

Noun

something that is short.

that which is deficient or lacking.

the sum and substance of a matter; gist (usually prec. by the ).

shorts,

trousers, knee-length or shorter.

short pants worn by men as an undergarment.

knee breeches, formerly worn by men.

Finance . short-term bonds.

Mining . crushed ore failing to pass through a given screen, thus being of a larger given size than a specific grade. Compare fine ( def. 29a ) .

remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes.

a size of garment for men who are shorter than average

He wears a 42 short.

a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size.

Military . a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target.

Electricity . short circuit.

Prosody . a short sound or syllable.

Baseball . shortstop ( def. 1 ) .

Movies . short subject.

Finance . short seller.

a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency.

Chiefly British . a small drink of straight whiskey; shot.

Verb (used with object)

to cause a short circuit in.

to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange.

Verb (used without object)

to short-circuit. ?

Idioms

come or fall short

to fail to reach a particular standard.

to prove insufficient; be lacking

Her funds fell short, and she had to wire home for help.

cut short

to end abruptly; terminate

Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside.

for short

by way of abbreviation

Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short.

in short

in summary.

in few words; in brief

In short, this has been rather a disappointing day.

make short work of. work ( def. 52 ) .

run short

to be in insufficient supply

My patience is running short.

sell short

Stock Exchange . to sell stocks or the like without having them in one's actual possession at the time of the sale.

to disparage or underestimate

Don't sell Tom short; he's really an excellent engineer.

short and sweet

pleasantly brief.

pertinent

We're in a hurry, so make it short and sweet.

short for

being a shorter form of; abbreviated to

Phone is short for telephone.

short of

less than; inferior to.

inadequately supplied with (money, food, etc.).

without going to the length of; failing of; excluding

Short of murder, there is nothing he wouldn't have tried to get what he wanted.