short

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   at a disadvantage

   I was caught short

2. 2
   adv

   so as to interrupt

   I took them up short before they could continue.

3. 3
   adv

   at some point or distance before a goal is reached

   They fell short of our expectations.

4. 4
   adv

   clean across

   the car's axle snapped short

5. 5
   adv

   without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold

   They made their fortune by selling short just before the crash.

6. 6
   adj

   tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening

   shortbread is a short crumbly cookie

7. 7
   adj

   (primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length

   short skirts

8. 8
   adj

   of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration

   the English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt' are short

Etymology

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 Dani…