From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Short \Short\, a. [Compar. {Shorter}; superl. {Shortest}.] [OE.
short, schort, AS. scort, sceort; akin to OHG. scurz, Icel.
skorta to be short of, to lack, and perhaps to E. shear, v.
t. Cf. {Shirt}.]
1. Not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a
short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight.
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The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch
himself on it. --Isa. xxviii.
20.
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2. Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not
protracted; as, short breath.
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The life so short, the craft so long to learn.
--Chaucer.
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To short absense I could yield. --Milton.
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3. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as,
a short supply of provisions, or of water.
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4. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily
furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the
ordinary, standard; -- usually with of; as, to be short of
money.
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We shall be short in our provision. --Shak.
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5. Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a
measure or standard; as, an account which is short of the
trith.
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6. Not distant in time; near at hand.
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Marinell was sore offended
That his departure thence should be so short.
--Spenser.
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He commanded those who were appointed to attend him
to be ready by a short day. --Clarendon.
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7. Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive;
narrow; not tenacious, as memory.
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Their own short understandings reach
No farther than the present. --Rowe.
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8. Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or
equivalent; less (than); -- with of.
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Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse
them again to war. --Landor.
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9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short
answer to the question.
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10. (Cookery) Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth;
crisp; as, short pastry.
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11. (Metal) Brittle.
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Note: Metals that are brittle when hot are called ?ot-short;
as, cast iron may be hot-short, owing to the presence
of sulphur. Those that are brittle when cold are called
cold-short; as, cast iron may be cold-short, on account
of the presence of phosphorus.
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12. (Stock Exchange) Engaging or engaged to deliver what is
not possessed; as, short contracts; to be short of stock.
See The shorts, under {Short}, n., and To sell short,
under {Short}, adv.
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Note: In mercantile transactions, a note or bill is sometimes
made payable at short sight, that is, in a little time
after being presented to the payer.
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13. (Phon.) Not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in
utterance; -- opposed to {long}, and applied to vowels or
to syllables. In English, the long and short of the same
letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the
same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of
i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the
short sound of a in pate, etc. See {Quantity}, and Guide
to Pronunciation, [sect][sect]22, 30.
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Note: Short is much used with participles to form numerous
self-explaining compounds; as, short-armed,
short-billed, short-fingered, short-haired,
short-necked, short-sleeved, short-tailed,
short-winged, short-wooled, etc.
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{At short notice}, in a brief time; promptly.
{Short rib} (Anat.), one of the false ribs.
{Short suit} (Whist), any suit having only three cards, or
less than three. --R. A. Proctor.
{To come short}, {To cut short}, {To fall short}, etc. See
under {Come}, {Cut}, etc.
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