King James Bible Dictionary

SHORT, adjective [Latin curtus.]

1. Not long; not having great length or extension; as a short distance; a short ferry; a short flight; a short piece of timber.

The bed is shorter than a man can stretch himself on it. Isaiah 28:20.

2. Not extended in time; not of long duration.

The triumphing of the wicked is short. Job 20:5.

3. Not of usual or suffifient length, reach or extent.

Weak though I am of limb, and short of sight. Pope.

4. Not of long duration; repeated at small intervals of time; as short breath.

5. Not of adequate extent or quantity; not reaching the point demanded, desired or expected; as a quantity short of our expectations.

Not therefore am I short

Of knowing what I ought. Milton.

6. Deficient; defective; imperfect. This account is short of the truth.

7. Not adequate; insufficient; scanty; as, provisions are short; a short allowance of water for the voyage.

8. Not sufficiently supplied; scantily furnished.

the English were inferior in number, and grew short in their provisions.

Hayward.

9. Not far distant in time; future.

He commanded those who were appointed to attend him, to be ready by a short day. Clarendon.

10. Not fetching a compass; as in the phrase, to turn short.

11. Not going to the point intended; as, to stop short.

12. Defective in quantity; as sheep short of their wool.

13. Narrow; limited; not extended; not large or comprehensive.

Their own short understandings reach

No farther than the present. Rowe.

14. Brittle; friable; breaking all at once without splinters or shatters; as marl so short that it cannot be wrought into a ball.

15. Not bending.

The lance broke short. Dryden.

16. Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; severe. I asked him a question, to which he gave a short answer.

To be short, to be scantily supplied; as, to be short of bread or water.

To come short, to fail; not to do what is demanded or expected, or what is necessary for the purpose; applied to persons. We all come short of perfect obedience to God's will.

2. Not to reach or obtain.

3. To fail; to be insufficient. Provisions come short.

To cut short, to abridge; to contract; to make to small or defective; also, ot destroy or consume.

To fall short, to fail; to be inadequate or scanty; as, provisions fall short; money falls short.

2. To fail; not to do or accomplish; as, to fall short on duty.

3. To be less. The measure falls short of the estimate.

To stop short, to stop at once; also, to stop without reaching the point intended.

To turn short, to turn on the spot occupied; to turn without making a compass.

For turning short he struck with all his might. Dryden.

To be taken short, to be seized with urgent necessity.

In short, a few words; briefly; to sum up or close in a few words.

SHORT, noun A summary account; as the short of the matter.

The short and long in our play is preferred. Shak.

SHORT, adverb Not long; as short-enduring joy; a short-breathed man.

In connection with verbs, short is a modifying word, or used adverbially; as, to come short, etc.

SHORT, verb transitive

1. To shorten.

2. verb intransitive To fail; to decrease. [Not in use.]

SHORT'-BREATHED, adjective Having short breath or quick respiration.

SHORT'-DATED, adjective [short and date.] Having little time to run.

SHORTEN, verb transitive short'n.

1. To make short in measure, extent or time; as, to shorten distance; to shorten a road; to shorten days of calamity.

2. To abridge; to lessen; as, to shorten labor or work.

3. To curtail; as, to shorten the hair by clipping.

4. To cintract; to lessen; to diminish in extent or amount; as, to shorten sail; to shorten an allowance of provisions.

5. To confine; to restrain.

Here where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by my chain. Dryden.

6. To lop; to deprive.

The youth-shortened of his ears. Dryden.

SHORTEN, verb intransitive short'n.

1. To become short or shorter. The day shortens in northern latitudes from June to December.

2. To contract; as, a cord shortens by being wet; a metallic rod shortens by cold.

SHORT'ENED, participle passive Made shorter; abridged; contracted.

SHORT'ENING, participle present tense Making shorter; contracting.

SHORT'ENING, noun Something used in cookery to make paste short or friable, as butter or lard.

SHORT'-HAND, noun [short amd hand.] Short writing; a compendious method of writing by substituting characters, abbreviations or symbols for words; otherwise called stenography.

SHORT'-JOINTED, adjective [short and joint.] A horse is said to be short-jointed when the pastern is to short.

SHORT'-LIVED, adjective [short and live.] Not living or lasting long; being of short continuance; as a short-lived race of beings; short-lived pleasure; short-lived passion.

SHORT'LY, adverb

1. Quickly; soon; in a little time.

The armies came shortly in view of each other. Clarendon.

2. In a few words; briefly; as, to express ideas more shortly in verse than in prose.

SHORT'NER, noun He or that which shortens.

SHORT'NESS, noun

1. The quality of being short in space or time; little length or little duration; as the shortness of a journey or of distance; the shortness of the days in winter; the shortness of life.

2. Fewness of words; brevity; conciseness; as th eshortness of an essay. The prayers of the church, by reason of their shortness, are easy for the memory.

3. Want of reach or the power of retention; as the shortness of the memory.

4. Deficiency; imperfection; limited extent; as the shortness of our reason.

SHORT'-RIB, noun [short and rib.] One of the lower ribs; a rib shorter than the others, below the sternum; a false rib.

SHORTS, noun plural The bran and coarse part of a meal. [Local.]

SHORT-SIGHT, noun Short-sightedness; myopy; vision accurate only when the object is near.

SHORT'SIGHTED, adjective [short and sight.]

1. Not able to see far; having limited vision; in a literal sense.

2. Not able to look far into futurity; not able to understand things deep or remite; of limited intellect.

SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS, noun

1. A defect in vision, consisting in the inability to see things at a distance, or at the distance to which ssight normally extends. Short-sightedness is owing to the too great convexity of the crystaline humor of the eye, by which the rays of light are brought to a focus too soon, that is, before they reach the retina.

2. Defected or limited intellectual sight; inabilaty to see far into futurity or into things deep or abstruse.

SHORT-WAISTED, adjective [short and waist.] Having a short waist or body.

SHORT-WIND'ED, adjective [short and wind.] Affected with shortness of breath; having a quick respiration; as asthmatic persons.

SHORT'-WINGED, adjective [short and wing.] Having short wings; as a short-winged hawk.

SHORT-WIT'TED, adjective Having little wit; not wise; of scanty intellect or judgement.