Shortest

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. [1913 Webster]

The bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it. --Isa. xxviii. 20. [1913 Webster]

2. Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted; as, short breath. [1913 Webster]

The life so short, the craft so long to learn. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

To short absense I could yield. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

3. Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as, a short supply of provisions, or of water. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

We shall be short in our provision. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5. Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a measure or standard; as, an account which is short of the trith. [1913 Webster]

6. Not distant in time; near at hand. [1913 Webster]

Marinell was sore offended That his departure thence should be so short. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day. --Clarendon. [1913 Webster]

7. Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive; narrow; not tenacious, as memory. [1913 Webster]

Their own short understandings reach No farther than the present. --Rowe. [1913 Webster]

8. Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or equivalent; less (than); -- with of. [1913 Webster]

Hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war. --Landor. [1913 Webster]

9. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short answer to the question. [1913 Webster]

10. (Cookery) Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth; crisp; as, short pastry. [1913 Webster]

11. (Metal) Brittle. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

{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. [1913 Webster]