primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration; a short life; a short flight; a short holiday; a short story; only a few short months'

(primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length; short skirts; short hair; the board was a foot short; a short toss'

low in stature; not tall; he was short and stocky; short in stature; a short smokestack; a little man

[ Syn: little ]

(of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range; a short memory

[ Syn: unretentive , forgetful ]

not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices; a short sale; short in cotton'

of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration; the English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt' are short'

the location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed

accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference

[ Syn: short circuit ]

the fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between second and third base

[ Syn: shortstop ]

quickly and without warning; he stopped suddenly

[ Syn: abruptly , abruptly , suddenly , suddenly , dead , dead , abruptly , abruptly , suddenly , suddenly , dead , dead , abruptly , abruptly , suddenly , suddenly , dead , dead , abruptly , abruptly , suddenly , suddenly , dead , dead ]

without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold; he made his fortune by selling short just before the crash'

clean across; the car's axle snapped short'

at some point or distance before a goal is reached; he fell short of our expectations'

so as to interrupt; She took him up short before he could continue'

at a disadvantage; I was caught short

[ Syn: unawares , unawares , unawares , unawares , unawares , unawares , unawares , unawares ]

in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner; he told me curtly to get on with it; he talked short with everyone; he said shortly that he didnt like it

[ Syn: curtly , curtly , shortly , shortly , curtly , curtly , shortly , shortly , curtly , curtly , shortly , shortly , curtly , curtly , shortly , shortly ]

tending to crumble or break into flakes due to a large amount of shortening; shortbread is a short crumbly cookie; a short flaky pie crust'

marked by rude or peremptory shortness; try to cultivate a less brusque manner; a curt reply; the salesgirl was very short with him

[ Syn: brusque , brusk , curt ]

not sufficient to meet a need; an inadequate income; a poor salary; money is short; on short rations; food is in short supply; short on experience

[ Syn: inadequate , poor ]

less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so; a light pound; a scant cup of sugar; regularly gives short weight

[ Syn: light , scant ]

lacking foresight or scope; a short view of the problem; shortsighted policies; shortsighted critics derided the plan; myopic thinking

[ Syn: shortsighted , unforesightful , myopic ]

cheat someone by not returning him enough money

[ Syn: short-change ]

create a short circuit in

[ Syn: short-circuit ]