shortness

short  (shôrt)

adj. short·er, short·est

1. Having little length; not long.

2. Having little height; not tall.

3. Extending or traveling not far or not far enough: a short toss.

4.

a. Lasting a brief time: a short holiday.

b. Appearing to pass quickly: finished the job in a few short months.

5. Not lengthy; succinct: short and to the point.

6.

a. Rudely brief; abrupt.

b. Easily provoked; irascible.

7. Inadequate; insufficient: oil in short supply; were short on experience.

8. Lacking in length or amount: a board that is short two inches.

9. Lacking in breadth or scope: a short view of the problem.

10. Deficient in retentiveness: a short memory.

11.

a. Not owning the stocks or commodities one is selling in anticipation of a fall in prices.

b. Of or relating to a short sale.

12.

a. Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky: a short pie crust.

b. Not ductile; brittle: short iron.

13.

a. Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mlus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mlus, "apple tree."

b. Grammar Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound () in pat or () in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.

14.

a. Unstressed; unaccented. Used of a syllable in accentual prosody.

b. Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.

15. Slang Close to the end of a tour of military duty.

adv. shorter, shortest

1. Abruptly; quickly: stop short.

2. In a rude or curt manner.

3. At a point before a given boundary, limit, or goal: a missile that landed short of the target.

4. At a disadvantage: We were caught short by the sudden storm.

5. Without owning what one is selling: selling a commodity short.

n.

1. Something short, as:

a. Linguistics A short syllable, vowel, or consonant.

b. A brief film; a short subject.

c. A size of clothing less long than the average for that size.

d. shorts Short trousers extending to the knee or above.

e. shorts Men's undershorts.

2.

a. A short sale.

b. One that sells short.

3. shorts A byproduct of wheat processing that consists of germ, bran, and coarse meal or flour.

4. shorts Clippings or trimmings that remain as byproducts in various manufacturing processes, often used to make an inferior variety of the product.

5.

a. A short circuit.

b. A malfunction caused by a short circuit.

6. Baseball A shortstop.

v. short·ed, short·ing, shorts

v.tr.

1. To cause a short circuit in.

2. Informal To give (one) less than one is entitled to; shortchange.

3.

a. To sell (a stock that one does not own) in anticipation of making a profit when its price falls; make a short sale.

b. To sell unowned stock in (the stock market) in anticipation of making a profit when prices fall.

v.intr.

To short-circuit.

Idioms:

for short

As an abbreviation: He's called Ed for short.

in short

In summary; briefly.

short for

An abbreviation of: Ed is short for Edward.

short of

1. Having an inadequate supply of: We're short of cash.

2. Less than: Nothing short of her best effort was required to make the team.

3. Other than; without resorting to: Short of yelling at him, I had no other way to catch his attention.

4. Not quite willing to undertake or do; just this side of: She stopped short of throwing out the old photo.

the short end of the stick

The worst side of an unequal deal.

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[Middle English, from Old English sceort, scort; see sker-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

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shortness n.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	shortness - the property of being of short spatial extent; "the shortness of the Channel crossing" length - the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place; "the length of the table was 5 feet" longness - the property of being of long spatial extent; "one gene causes shortness and the other causes longness"
	2.	shortness - the condition of being short of something; "there was no shortness of money"; "can cause shortness of breath" deficiency, lack, want - the state of needing something that is absent or unavailable; "there is a serious lack of insight into the problem"; "water is the critical deficiency in desert regions"; "for want of a nail the shoe was lost"
	3.	shortness - the property of being truncated or short truncation lowness - the quality of being low; lacking height; "he was suddenly aware of the lowness of the ceiling"
	4.	shortness - the property of being of short temporal extent; "the shortness of air travel time" length, duration - continuance in time; "the ceremony was of short duration"; "he complained about the length of time required" curtailment - the temporal property of being cut short briefness - the temporal property of being very short longness - duration as an extension
	5.	shortness - the property of being shorter than average stature stature, height - (of a standing person) the distance from head to foot tallness - the property of being taller than average stature
	6.	shortness - an abrupt discourteous manner abruptness, brusqueness, curtness, gruffness rudeness, discourtesy - a manner that is rude and insulting

Translations

shortness [ˈʃɔːtnɪs] n [of distance] → cortedad f [of time] → brevedad f;

(manner) → brusquedad f

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shortness [ˈʃɔːtnɪs] n → brièveté f

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shortness [ˈʃɔːtnɪs] n → brevità; insufficienza