ALL meanings of shortness
short
S s - adjective shortness having little length; not long. 1
- adjective shortness having little height; not tall: a short man. 1
- adjective shortness extending or reaching only a little way: a short path. 1
- adjective shortness brief in duration; not extensive in time: a short wait. 1
- adjective shortness brief or concise, as writing. 1
- adjective shortness rudely brief; abrupt; hurting: short behavior. 1
- adjective shortness low in amount; scanty: short rations. 1
- adjective shortness not reaching a point, mark, target, or the like; not long enough or far enough. 1
- adjective shortness below the standard in extent, quantity, duration, etc.: short measure. 1
- adjective shortness having a scanty or insufficient amount of (often followed by in or on): He was short in experience. 1
- adjective shortness being below a necessary or desired level; lacking: The office is short due to winter colds and flu. 1
- adjective shortness 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. 1
- adjective shortness (of metals) deficient in tenacity; friable; brittle. 1
- adjective shortness (of the head or skull) of less than ordinary length from front to back. 1
- adjective shortness 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. 1
- adjective shortness 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. 1
- adjective shortness Prosody. (of a syllable in quantitative verse) lasting a relatively shorter time than a long syllable. unstressed (def 1). 1
- adjective shortness (of an alcoholic drink) small: a short drink. 1
- adjective shortness Chiefly British. (of whiskey) undiluted; straight. 1
- adjective shortness Ceramics. (of clay) not plastic enough to be modeled. 1
- adjective shortness Ropemaking. hard (def 39). 1
- adverb shortness abruptly or suddenly: to stop short. 1
- adverb shortness briefly; curtly. 1
- adverb shortness on the near side of an intended or particular point: The arrow landed short. 1
- adverb shortness 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. 1
- noun shortness something that is short. 1
- noun shortness that which is deficient or lacking. 1
- noun shortness the sum and substance of a matter; gist (usually preceded by the). 1
- noun shortness 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 fine1 (def 28a). remnants, discards, or refuse of various cutting and manufacturing processes. 1
- noun shortness a size of garment for men who are shorter than average: He wears a 42 short. 1
- noun shortness a garment, as a suit or overcoat, in such a size. 1
- noun shortness Military. a shot that strikes or bursts short of the target. 1
- noun shortness Electricity. short circuit. 1
- noun shortness Prosody. a short sound or syllable. 1
- noun shortness Baseball. shortstop (def 1). 1
- noun shortness Movies. short subject. 1
- noun shortness Finance. short seller. 1
- noun shortness a deficiency or the amount of a deficiency. 1
- noun shortness Chiefly British. a small drink of straight whiskey; shot. 1
- verb with object shortness to cause a short circuit in. 1
- verb with object shortness to cheat by giving less than is expected or deserved; shortchange. 1
- verb without object shortness to short-circuit. 1
- idioms shortness cut short, to end abruptly; terminate: Her nap was cut short by a loud noise from outside. 1
- idioms shortness fall / come 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. 1
- idioms shortness for short, by way of abbreviation: Her name is Patricia, and she's called Pat for short. 1
- idioms shortness in short, in summary. in few words; in brief: In short, this has been rather a disappointing day. 1
- idioms shortness make short work of. work (def 53). 1
- idioms shortness run short, to be in insufficient supply: My patience is running short. 1
- noun shortness height 1
- idioms shortness 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. 1