short

short

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of short in English

English Online Dictionary. What means short‎? What does short mean?

English

Etymology

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 curt.

Pronunciation

(with the horse-hoarse merger) enPR: shôrt
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ʃɔːt/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ʃoɹt/
  • (St. Louis) IPA(key): [ʃɑɹt]
  • (DE) IPA(key): /ˈʃoːrt/, /ˈʃoːɻt/
  • (General Australian, New Zealand, Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /ʃoːt/
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
(without the horse–hoarse merger)
  • (rhotic) IPA(key): /ʃɔɹt/
  • (non-rhotic) IPA(key): /ʃɔːt/
  • (Dublin, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /ˈʃɒːɹt/

Adjective

short (comparative shorter, superlative shortest)

  1. Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
  2. (of a person) Of comparatively small height.
  3. Having little duration.
    Antonym: long
  4. (followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
  5. (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position) that is relatively close to the batsman.
  6. (cricket, of a ball) bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
  7. (golf, of an approach shot or putt) that falls short of the green or the hole.
  8. (gambling) Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
  9. (baking, of pastries; metallurgy) Brittle, crumbly. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening, hot short, cold-short.)
  10. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; curt.
  11. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
  12. Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.
  13. Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
  14. (colloquial) Undiluted; neat.
  15. (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
  17. (finance) Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
    Coordinate term: long
    short position
  18. (by extension) Doubtful of, skeptical of.
  19. (finance, dated) Of money: given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.
    Antonym: long

Usage notes

  • (having a small distance between ends or edges): Short is often used in the positive vertical dimension and used as is shallow in the negative vertical dimension; in the horizontal dimension narrow is more commonly used.

Synonyms

  • (having a small distance between ends or edges): low, narrow, slim, shallow
  • (of a person, of comparatively little height): little, pint-sized, petite, titchy (slang)
  • (having little duration): brief, concise
  • (constituting an abbreviation (for)): an abbreviation of, a short form of

Antonyms

  • (antonym(s) of “having a small distance between ends or edges”): tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long
  • (antonym(s) of “of a person, of comparatively little height”): tall
  • (antonym(s) of “having little duration”): long
  • (antonym(s) of “cricket, of a fielder or fielding position, relatively close to the batsman”): long
  • (antonym(s) of “financial position expecting falling value”): long

Translations

Adverb

short (not comparable)

  1. Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
  2. Unawares.
  3. Without achieving a goal or requirement.
  4. (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
  5. (finance) With a negative ownership position.

Translations

Noun

short (plural shorts)

  1. A short circuit.
  2. A short film.
    1. A short-form vertical video.
      1. A YouTube video that is less than one minute long.
  3. A short version of a garment in a particular size.
  4. (baseball) A shortstop.
  5. (finance) A short seller.
  6. (finance) A short sale or short position.
  7. A summary account.
  8. (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
  9. (programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
  10. (US, slang) An automobile; especially in crack shorts (“to break into automobiles”).

Descendants

  • → Cantonese: short
  • → Italian: short
  • → Japanese: ショート (shōto)
    • → Mandarin: 秀逗 (xiùdou)
    • → Hakka: 秀逗 (sió-tò)
  • → Maltese: xort

Translations

See also

  • shorts

Verb

short (third-person singular simple present shorts, present participle shorting, simple past and past participle shorted)

  1. (transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).
  2. (intransitive, of an electrical circuit) To short circuit.
  3. (transitive, informal) To provide with an amount smaller than that agreed or labeled; to shortchange.
  4. (transitive, business) To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.
  5. (obsolete) To shorten.

Descendants

  • → Maltese: xxortja

Translations

Preposition

short

  1. Deficient in.
  2. (finance) Having a negative position in.

Synonyms

  • (deficient in): lacking, short on

Translations

Derived terms

Anagrams

  • Stohr, horst, trosh, Horst, hotṛs, Roths, thors, Stroh, hotrs

Albanian

Alternative forms

  • shortë, shorte

Etymology

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin sors, sortem.

Noun

short m (plural shórte, definite shórti, definite plural shórtet) (uncountable)

  1. drawing (action where the outcome is selected by chance using a draw)
  2. (originally southern Gheg, Tirana) sweepstakes, lot, portion
  3. (in the plural) stake, share, inheritance
    Synonym: hise
  4. (figurative) luck
    Synonym: fat
  5. (figurative) spouse, consort
    Synonyms: bashkëshort, burrë, grua
  6. (archaic) fortune-telling

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

  • FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[5], 1980
  • “short”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
  • Mann, S. E. (1948) “short”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 488

Chinese

Etymology

From English short, in the sense of a short circuit. Cognate with Taiwanese Hokkien 秀逗.

Pronunciation

Adjective

short

  1. (Cantonese) insane; crazy
    short short哋 [Cantonese]  ―  sot1 sot1 dei6-2 [Jyutping]  ―  a bit crazy
    • 有都唔借你啦，short㗎你？ [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]
      jau5 du1 m4 ze3 nei5 laa1, sot1 gaa4 nei5? [Jyutping]
      I'm not lending it [my homework to you] even if I have done it. You're crazy, aren't you?

Synonyms

Verb

short

  1. (Cantonese, of people) to become insane; to become crazy
  2. (Cantonese, of electronics) to malfunction
  3. (Cantonese, electrical engineering) to short-circuit

References

  • English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

French

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʃɔʁt/

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

  1. shorts, short trousers (UK)

Further reading

  • “short”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English short.

Noun

short m (invariable)

  1. short (short film etc.)

Middle English

Adjective

short

  1. Alternative form of schort

Portuguese

Alternative forms

  • shorts

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

Pronunciation

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

  1. (Brazil) shorts (pants that do not go lower than the knees)
    Synonyms: calção, calções, shorts

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃoɾt/ [ˈʃoɾt̪]
  • Rhymes: -oɾt
  • Syllabification: short

Noun

short m (plural shorts)

  1. shorts

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

  • “short”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.