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Added 8 October 2026

short

/ʃɔːt/ noun

In Latin: brevis, curtus Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about short at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

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

verb

Cheat someone by not returning him enough money.
Create a short circuit in.

adjective

Primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration.
a short life
(primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length.
short skirts
Low in stature; not tall.
he was short and stocky

adverb

Quickly and without warning.
he stopped suddenly
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

Origin

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 shirt, skirt, and curt. Cognate with Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. See more at shirt.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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